Otherworldly Alchemy
by UltimateOtakuGirl100
Summary: Well, two girls from our world attempted alchemy to get to Amestris. Maybe alchemy on a giant bear on top of a mountain wasn't exactly an ideal way to go, but hey, it worked. After Destiny lost her arm and Nadia lost her leg, anyway. But even so, travelling with the Elric brothers could turn out to be fun! ...If they don't screw everything up first. Ed/OC, Al/OC
1. The Gate to Amestris

Chapter 1: The Gate to Amestris 

**A/N: Yo, people of the FanFiction world~ Some of you may know me while many of you probably won't, but my name is UltimateOtakuGirl100, and this is my first FMA fic! ^.^ **

**I know that this kind of story is cliché, but deal with it. I'm human; I can have selfish desires. **

**I would say something else, but I don't wanna waste any more time. So, read on! **

* * *

"SQUEEEEEEEEE! We're finally doing alchemy! We're finally doing alchemy! _We're finally doing ALCHEMY_!" I screamed, hearing my voice echo in the distance. I think I saw a flock of crows fly off the mountain in fear, but I ignored them. I felt my plain light blue T-shirt ripple against me in the wind, and I smoothed out my favorite comfortable baggy black pants, grinning as I went into hyper mode.

"Destiny, _shut it_! If someone hears you, it'll never happen!"

"Oh, right, right… sorry, Nadia. Hey, you're lagging! Keep up!"

Nadia huffed and picked up the pace, slowing when she was only a foot or so behind me. She wore a much-too-large green shirt that went down to her knees, and navy blue tights. Her dark brown chest-length hair blew crazily around her face as she ran, which she slid behind her ears, irritated. "Besides, it probably won't work, anyway. This world can't use alchemy; the show says it itself."

"Sheesh, don't be such a killjoy! We have to try."

Nadia sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. But in the scenario it _does_ work—a very _unlikely_ scenario at that—what are you planning on? Seriously, if we just vanish, then what's going on in your head as to what everyone'll think? Please tell me you've gotten _that_ far."

I stopped and turned around to face her, grinning. "Of course! People go missing all the time, y'know. I didn't choose a camping trip location to attempt alchemy for no reason. If we suddenly disappear, then, hey, a mountaintop camping location? What more likely location to get lost? Or kidnapped? And come to think of it, there _are _a lot of bears in the area…"

Nadia's eyes widened. She gaped at me. "SERIOUSLY?! Destiny, _that's_ your plan?!"

I shrugged. "Yeah. So? What's wrong with it?"

"I don't want people to think I'm _dead_!"

Rolling my eyes, I replied, "Well, if it doesn't work, which you seem to be certain it won't, we can just go back to the campsite, and nothing will go wrong. If it _does_ work, then, well, do you seriously think people will guess that we traveled through the Gate to another, parallel world of alchemy?!"

Nadia scowled. She was about to say something else, but I'd already turned around and began to walk away. "What'd I say about lagging? Hurry up, or I'm leaving you behind!"

She ran up next to me once more, panting—the reason why she was struggling to keep up was that I was much more fit than she was, because she was more of a "rational, intelligent, study hard" kind of girl. I, on the other hand, was a hyper, completely irrational fangirl of anime and video games. It's hard to convince me that I'm wrong about anything, because I'm stubborn, smart (or at least, smarter than the average person, but only when it comes to non-school-related stuff), and also have a temper. We're complete opposites in almost all cases; it's a wonder that we're still friends. One of the few things we both like is Fullmetal Alchemist. But even on that, we disagree on some IMPORTANT topics of interest.

After catching her breath, she finally said, "No way you're leaving me behind, Destiny. If there is even the slightest possibility of meeting Alphonse, I'm not missing it."

I scoffed. "Seriously, why do you like him so much?! For, like, 99% of the series, he's trapped in a suit of armor! Besides, Ed is SO much hotter."

I struck a nerve with that one, and I knew it. "So what?! It's not _his_ fault he's in a suit of armor, it's Edward's! And besides, Al is ultra-cute. I don't understand how you aren't a fangirl over _him_; didn't you see how _cute_ he looked at the end of the series?!"

Ho, yes, this was an ongoing argument between us: who was better, Edward or Alphonse. "Tch, yeah, well, derp. Edward saved his _life_. And he got his body back at the end thanks to, who again? Oh yeah, _Ed_."

She opened her mouth to retort in a rare display of open anger, but I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "If you want to do this, then we've got to do this right. I think we're far enough from the campsite now."

We stood in a small clearing, surrounded by trees and wilting grass. I turned around, but couldn't see the campsite anymore, which was good. If anyone saw what we were doing…

I crouched down to the ground, snagged a stick, and began to draw a large transmutation circle into the ground. Brushing my shoulder-length golden-brown hair out of my face, I set down my backpack that was filled with "camping" material (which we were really bringing with us so that we wouldn't die if we got to Amestris), exhausted from the weight, and shuffled through the various stuff.

Nadia craned her neck to look over my shoulder. "Um, Destiny… _why_ are we bringing gold again?" she asked incredulously.

Rolling my eyes at her ignorance, I replied, "Because it's the only thing I have that I know for _sure_ we can sell in exchange for their currency. What was it called again—oh yeah, it's called Cenz, right?"

She sighed as I continued to search through the various non-perishable food, water, clothing, and all the golden jewelry that I had but never used. "Only a true fangirl would care about useless information like that."

"It's not useless information!" I cried defensively before finally pulling out what I was looking for. I held the dagger that was several inches bigger than the size of my hand in its sheath, frowning. "It's not big enough to go up against an enemy in _real_ combat, and probably pretty useless, but it'll do for now…" I added a few details I'd forgotten to the circle before wiping my forehead to get rid of the sweat that wasn't there to begin with and stood up, sheathed dagger still in one hand. "Phew. It's done." I squinted as I looked up through the trees, light trickling through. "Now all we need is something to transmute, then we'll be on our way."

If we were in an anime, I think that Nadia either would have sweatdropped or fallen over anime-style. "So, you took us all the way to the top of a mountain… lied to both of our parents… and yet you don't have anything to _transmute_?!" she demanded.

I frowned. "So?"

"SO?! Seriously, Destiny?! You can be so hopeless sometimes…" She continued to mutter to herself.

_Crack_.

I spun around. "What was that?!"

_Crack_.

Nadia looked at me, annoyed. "What's _what_?"

_Crunch… crunch… CRACK_.

Nadia's eyes widened. "Uh… wh-what was it you said about b-bears in the area?"

_Crunch… CRACK, crack… crunch… _

I swallowed.

All of the sudden, a giant black bear walked through the trees. It stopped when it saw us and eyed us with shining black eyes.

"Y-y'know, Nadia," I whispered quietly, shaking, "I r-really hate it w-when you're right."

Nadia stood perfectly still, maybe even paralyzed, terror clear on her face. "W-whatever you do… j-just don't… m-move."

The three of us were in a standstill. _Oh, crap, what do I do?! _I thought, horrified. _What to do in a bear encounter… um… make eye contact… don't move… don't play dead… don't say anything… don't run away… or was it _do_ run away? Or attack? Or… _

The bear's muscles clenched.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, running as fast as I could in the opposite direction.

The bear sprang into motion.

"Destiny, if we live through this, I AM GOING TO FREAKING _KILL YOUUUUU_!" Nadia yelled, struggling to run alongside me.

The irony wasn't lost on me; nonetheless I gulped. "IT'S GAINING ON US!" I wailed, running even harder as I heard the bear's heavy pants get louder.

"SHUT UP AND _RUUUUUUN_!"

I screamed as I felt its claws snag onto the hem of my shirt's right sleeve. A part of its nails dug into my skin; not enough to cause any permanent harm, but enough to draw blood and _really_ hurt.

Still screaming, I felt a kind of horror I'd never experienced before when the claw snagged to my shirt made me stumble and fall over.

I saw Nadia stop and spin around, eyes wide. "DESTINY!" she shrieked, mortified.

Shaking uncontrollably, I got onto my hands and knees and looked up at her. "WHAT'RE YOU _DOING_?!" I demanded. "NADIA, _RUN_!"

I yelped in pained fear when I heard a beastly growl coming from the bear. I rolled out of the way just as it thrust its claw at me. It lunged again, but I had already rolled out of the way and behind it. I ran as fast as I could as the bear turned around.

To my surprise, I saw Nadia running alongside me. "Why… aren't you… gone?!" I gasped out through panting.

Nadia looked frustrated. "I couldn't… just leave… you… to _die_!"

Suddenly, we burst into the same clearing as before. We both stumbled and skid to a halt in front of a fallen tree that was much too large to jump over. At the same time, we spun around to face the bear, terrified.

I brought my arms in front of me to brace myself for the likely life-ending assault, but then I saw something in my hand I'd forgotten about. _The dagger…! _I thought.

The bear roared and lunged, but at the same time, I not-so-gently pushed Nadia to the ground and leapt right at the bear and, using all of my strength, stabbed the giant bear right in the shoulder before it could bite me.

It roared in pain and recoiled.

I held up the blade with newfound admiration. "My dear Dagger, I take back every foul word I said about you before. You are the best knife _ever_."

I wrinkled my nose in disgust when a drop of the bear's blood dripped off the tip. "Ew…"

I snapped back to attention when I heard the bear roar in agony again. It stumbled backwards a bit, blood dripping to the ground, and into…

"THE TRANSMUTATION CIRCLE!" both me and Nadia (who had just barely stood up) yelled in unison, shocked.

The bear staggered into the center of the circle, looking dazed. It roared once more, before, quite suddenly, a blue transmutation circle identical to the one on the ground appeared where I'd stabbed it.

It thrashed wildly. It tried to escape the circle, but an electric-blue light erupted from the outer parts of the circle when it tried, blocking its escape.

Angered, the bear used its claws and swiped at us. I managed to jump away in time, but unfortunately, Nadia was unable to get out of the way in time, and it sliced at the upper section of her left leg, cutting the fabric in a line and drawing blood. She cried out in pain, now dashing out of the way, limping slightly.

As the bear continued to thrash, it suddenly occurred to me. "Nadia," I whispered. "I think I've just found our transportation to Amestris."

She gawked at me, shocked. "Please tell me you're joking."

I wiped a bit of blood off of my arm with my left hand. "I would if I could," I replied, rubbing the palms of my hands together and getting my own blood smeared on both. "Are you coming?" I asked her, gesturing to the circle as I sat on my legs, hands outstretched.

Nadia hesitated. Then she wiped some blood off of the cut on her leg and copied me.

We clapped our hands together at the same time. "Are you ready?"

Nadia nodded slowly, looking nervous.

"All right. On the count of three! One… two…" I gulped. "THREE!"

We slammed our hands against the rim of the circle.

The circle glowed even brighter, then all I could see was the light…

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, we were standing in front of the Gate, side-by-side.

"Whoa…" I breathed, fascinated by the size.

Nadia slapped me. "Destiny! _Now_ you've done it! We're probably gonna lose our _legs_ or something now!"

"Ow!" I cried, rubbing my cheek. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to see Alphonse so badly! Deal with it!"

All of the sudden, the door opened.

We both screamed our lungs out when a bunch of black hands reached out and grabbed us.

One creepy-looking face looked at me, grinning, and ripped off my right arm.

Another one ripped off Nadia's left leg.

We screamed even louder.

Then, suddenly, it was over.

We were dropped suddenly, face-first, onto grass. Rain poured down from above.

"It hurts," I whimpered, grabbing my stub of a right arm. "I…I'm bleeding…! Losing… too much blood!"

Nadia weakly wacked me on the head. "You… think I… have it… any better?! I… can't even… walk now…!" She clutched her stub of a leg tightly, trying to get the blood to stop flowing. "You… still have… both… your legs… pick me up… and… let's go…" she whispered. She cried out suddenly.

I shakily stood up, wobbling from the pain. I'd had my arm sprained before, but that was nowhere NEAR close to the complete and utter agony I was suffering, now that the arm wasn't there _altogether_; I couldn't quite see straight through the pain, but nonetheless I attempted to look at our surroundings. I whimpered again as my stub of an arm throbbed, but I finally managed to see where we were. "N…Nadia…" I gasped out weakly, "I think… we're… in the forest… by… Resembool…"

Nadia attempted to laugh, but ended up coughing up blood instead. "Well… congrats… we… made it… to Amestris… now… all we've gotta do… is get… to town…"

I shook unsteadily as I slowly crouched down next to her. "I only… have one arm… so this'll… be hard… just… use your arms… and hold on…" I scooped her up with my arm bridal-style and nearly fell over from her weight focused all on one arm, my non-dominant one at that, but quickly recovered when she wrapped her arms around my neck.

I ambled through the forest weakly, both of us dripping blood everywhere, and feeling extremely dizzy despite my attempts to ignore the pain. I somehow managed to stumble onto the muddy road just barely on the outskirts of Resembool before finally collapsing in an exhausted, bloody heap, dropping Nadia next to me. "I…I'm sorry, Nadia," I whispered, coughing. "I can't… go any… further… too… weak…"

She glared at me tiredly, frustrated. "What're… you… doing?! Leave… me here, save yourself…!"

I coughed some more. "Can't… do that… even if… I was willing… to abandon you… I've… lost too much… blood…" I moaned, losing feeling in my body as my vision grew blurred. I managed to see her eyes close as she passed out, unable to stay awake anymore. "S…sorry, Nadia…"

I closed my eyes, too.

Only a few moments had passed when I heard voices that my mind vaguely processed as familiar. "Tch, Winry is going to _kill_ us! Can't _believe_ the automail broke again. This is going to be bad."

I heard a childish-sounding sigh and a bunch of slow, loud clanking. "Brother, it _is_ kind of your fault for abusing it so badly. I just hope that it doesn't fall apart altogether before we get to Pinako's."

A sigh from the other voice. "Well, it's stable enough where it won't break _that_ soon. That automail junkie _did_ do pretty well; it's holding together even in this busted state…"

The footsteps and clanking abruptly came to a halt. "What the…?!" the voice gasped. Then they ran, noises getting louder, and came to a halt. "Al, grab the one missing a leg. I'll grab this one. Quick, we've gotta get them to Winry's!" I felt something wrap around me—probably arms—and I was hoisted into the air. I shook as the owner of the voice sprinted as fast as he could.

I tried to fight off the darkness, and managed to open my eyes slightly. I was just barely able to process gold before my eyes forced themselves shut again.

But I knew what I saw.

"Y…you…" I whispered quietly, requiring too much effort to be normal. Sleep finally overtook me, but not before I realized who it was.

…_Ed…ward… _

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I know, not the most humorous chapter ever (and if I'm honest, it's a little dark, what with all the blood and stuff), but derp. -_- It'll be funnier in later chapters.**

**The bear attack is something personal, actually; one time I was on a camping trip with my friends, and we were all making this hideout and disguising it so it would blend in with the ground (it really did look pretty good). Long story short, we spotted a black bear that chased us into our hideout, we hid in there for almost an hour (a traumatizing hour at that; I kept laughing on the verge of insanity despite how scared I was), my friend Megan peeking out every so often to check on the bear, which was closer each time she looked out, and then after the longest hour of my life, the bear disappeared, leaving busted trees with sap from the inside of them coating everything around it in its wake. **

**Needless to say, that was quite the memorable experience. **

**We didn't actually get attacked, but it kept growling and it was terrifying. I swear I thought I was going to die, but obviously not, because I'm here. :3 **

**So, yeah, that was kind of a tribute to that experience. Certainly made it interesting to write! *sweatdrop* **

**Anyways… **

**Review topics: **

**Was it too depressing/dark this chapter? **

**Anyone mad that I didn't put Truth in there? I tried, but… that guy was just too freakin' creepy. *shudder* I just couldn't, he scares me. **

**Are the OCs' names okay? It took me, like, **_**forever**_** to pick out names that had a meaning that would fit. Destiny, well, the meaning to that is obvious; and Nadia means Hope. So, I've just gotta know if it was a good choice. **

**R&R people! **


	2. Meeting the Elrics

Chapter 2: Meeting the Elrics 

**A/N: Yo! It's me again~! **

**Just a quick FYI, this is FMA-set, not Brotherhood, and also, I'm adding stuff to the storyline that didn't happen in canon, just to make the story longer. :P So, this takes place before Laboratory 5, but after Ed has already broken his automail once before. He was just sent on a mission between those points. :3**

**Well, here goes my routine of pointless information about my personal life that none of you care about. **

**I'm really, really short for my age. As in, shorter-than-Ed short. O_o (Just barely, though.) **

**Anyways, in my Orchestra class, I sit next to one of the VERY few guys who are actually shorter than me. His name's Andrew. So, anyways, the teacher tells us all to put our music stand at a level where you can see the music and the conductor at the same time. I raised it up to my height. **

**Then it occurred to me that Andrew couldn't see over the stand. I was tempted to tease him about it, but then I realized that that situation was kind of like how it is for Ed. I felt bad at that point, so I couldn't bring myself to say anything, and lowered the stand without a word. '^.^ **

**So, yeah. I just thought that was funny enough to mention here. XD **

**Now, read on!**

* * *

_**~~Ed's POV~~**_

I stormed through the pouring rain, fuming. My red cloak was completely drenched, my black jacket was slightly torn, and my automail arm and leg were on the verge of falling apart.

The reason?

Simple. For our latest assignment from the state, Colonel Roy Mustang told us to stop a freaking _train_ from falling off the rails and over a cliff. Somehow, I managed to stop it and the guys who had arranged it to begin with, but that seriously did a number on my automail.

The rain wasn't helping my mood at all, either.

"Who does he think he is?!" I ranted. "Criticizing me for his own orders. UGH! 'And maybe if you weren't so _short_, you wouldn't have broken your automail, Fullmetal. Try to grow a bit taller.' I swear, one day, I'm going to wipe that _stupid smirk_ right off his _face_!"

Al, walking next to me and making a CLANK sound with each step we took, looked at me with his red-white 'eyes'. "And how're you going to tell Winry? She won't be happy…"

I sagged a bit, fearing the upcoming wrench-attack. "Tch, Winry is going to _kill_ us!" I cried. "Can't _believe_ the automail broke again. This is going to be bad."

He sighed, the sound reverberating through the armor. "Brother, it _is_ kind of your fault for abusing it so badly." He paused. "I just hope it doesn't fall apart altogether before we get to Pinako's."

I shuddered, and it had nothing to do with the cold from the rain. _That would be REALLY bad, _I thought, gulping. Then I sighed in relief. "Well, it's stable enough where it won't break _that_ soon. That automail junkie _did_ do pretty well; it's holding together even in this busted state…" I trailed off, stopping. For a moment, I just gaped at what I saw. "What the…?!"

Two girls were lying next to each other, collapsed in a giant pool of blood. One girl had drenched shoulder-length medium-brown hair that was encrusted with semi-dried blood. She wore a wet pale blue T-shirt that was probably ruined due to the blood, baggy black pants, and a large green backpack hanging on with one strap off of her left shoulder—actually, her _only_ shoulder. Her right arm had been cut clean off.

The other girl had dark brown hair, also encrusted in blood, which went down to her chest. She wore a dark green T-shirt that was obviously several sizes too big and navy blue tights. One of the pant legs of the tights lay flat in the bloody mud—her left leg was gone. The both of them were really pale, probably from blood loss.

When what was happening finally fully registered, I immediately went into focus mode. We ran up next to them. "Al, grab the one missing a leg. I'll grab this one. Quick, we've gotta get them to Winry's!" I yelled. I crouched down next to the girl without an arm and lifted her, which proved to be difficult because my automail arm was almost broken, and my automail leg wasn't exactly reliable for balance anymore. This in mind, I made a point to concentrate most of the effort on my real flesh-and-blood limbs before breaking into an unsteady sprint of desperation.

To my surprise, a few seconds later, the girl's eyes opened, but just barely. Only long enough for me to see pained shock in her shining, deep blue eyes. Then her eyes closed again.

"Y…you…" she murmured dazedly, voice so weak and dry I could barely hear it. Then she went completely limp in my arms again.

I swallowed, suddenly having a flashback to the day that Mom died. _I'm not letting anyone die today…! _I swore.

And I ran even faster, just barely behind Al.

* * *

"WINRY!" I shouted upon finally reaching her house. Al knocked on the door with one hand, shifting the girl he was carrying to his other arm.

The door flew open and, before I had any time to react, a wrench came flying and hit me on the head, almost making me fall backwards, but thankfully I didn't; that would've made me drop the girl. "AUGH!" I cried out, feeling a bruise develop immediately.

Winry stood in the doorway, glaring. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY—!" She abruptly fell silent when she noticed the girls. Winry gawked for a second, horrified, before she snapped to attention. "Bring them to the automail room," she commanded, briskly spinning in the other direction and running off somewhere. "_Grandma_! This is an emergency! Get whatever you can find that'll stop the bleeding!"

Alphonse and I stepped into the house, dashing through the hallways before we reached the room with various automail on the walls. There were four hospital beds in one half of the room; we placed the girls on two of the beds next to each other, separated by a foot or so of space. Realizing how uncomfortable it must be to sleep on a backpack, I gently took it off the girl's shoulder and placed it on an automail table nearby.

A few moments later, Winry burst in with a bunch of equipment, followed by Pinako. Winry took charge, wrapping countless bandages over their missing limbs and pressing some weird medicines to their wounds.

I stepped back at the smell, pinching my nose. I always hated hospitals, and that's exactly the smell they always have…

After they'd finished with wrapping their wounds in bandages and making sure their heartbeats were steady, Winry turned around to face me, cracking her knuckles.

I gulped.

"Now, Edward…" she hissed, "care to explain WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FREAKING _AUTOMAIL_?!"

* * *

Several hours of thrown wrenches and many seriously painful bruises later, I sat in a chair next to the bed of the girl missing an arm, lost in thought. I'd almost nodded off when suddenly, the other girl with the missing leg began to stir.

For some reason, I felt disappointed—I guess I'd hoped that the girl I'd carried in would wake up first—but I shook it off and walked over to her bed.

After a moment or so, her eyes slowly opened, revealing hazel-colored eyes. "Ugh… what just _happened_…?" she mumbled drowsily. Then she looked up at me. Her eyes widened and she sat upright quickly. "So it _wasn't_ a dream…!"

I wasn't really sure what she was talking about, but I nervously cleared my throat. She focused on me. "Er, my brother and I found you and your friend on the side of the road… can you tell me what happened?" _Crap, I'm not in the interrogation field! Why do _I_ have to do this?! Sheesh. _

She stared blankly for a few seconds. "My… friend—?" Then she gasped. "Where is she—?!" The one-legged girl cut off quickly cut herself off when she spun around and spotted the other girl. She sighed in relief. "Good, she's okay…"

I coughed to get her attention again. "We brought you two to our friend's house. We were hoping you could tell us what happened to you two, and where you came from."

She stared blankly again for a little longer this time, taking her sweet time to process the information. She seemed to finally realize what I'd said. "Oh! Well, I'm Nadia, and this is my reckless, good-for-nothing friend, Destiny."

I sweat-dropped at her description. _Seems these two don't really get along,_ I noted, before thinking on the other girl's name for a second. _Destiny, huh? That's interesting…_ "…Uh, and how did you get out there in the rain?"

Nadia pursed her lips and again paused. "Umm… well…" Then she said stiffly, "That's information I don't feel comfortable sharing with a complete stranger. I don't even know your name. For all I know, you could be some creepy stalker person who's been following us around. And until my _useless_ friend wakes up, I'm not telling you anything else."

_Touché. _"You don't know me? Well," I said proudly, "As for my name… I am Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

I waited. And waited. And waited. She gave absolutely no reaction to my name. Not recognition, not surprise, not confusion. NOTHING.

Then, after a while, she yawned. "Hm. That's nice," Nadia replied, lying down again.

I gawked. "AREN'T YOU GOING TO SAY _ANYTHING_?!" I demanded.

She looked at me again, seeming bored. "No… not really."

Just then, I heard clanking that I immediately recognized as Al, coming back from talking to Winry. "Brother, she said—" He cut off when he noticed Nadia staring at him. "Oh, so you're awake?"

For some reason, Nadia's eyes went huge. "_YOOOOOOUUU_!" she squealed. She tried to get out of the bed.

"Wait!" I tried to object, but too late. She fell off the bed.

"Owww…" Nadia whined, gripping her stub of a leg. "That's something I wish _had_ been a dream…"

* * *

_**~~Nadia's POV~~**_

Well, shoot. I'd forgotten that I'd lost my leg… Now how was I supposed to get over to Al?! Pssh. This is all Destiny's fault. I finally meet my beloved Al, and I can't even get over to him!

Ed looked annoyed, probably because I hadn't been interested at all when he introduced himself to me. "Yeah. This is Alphonse, my brother I told you about. Al, this… is Nadia apparently…"

_Oh, I know who he is, _I thought semi-smugly. "Hi."

Al, although I couldn't see his expression (it's hard to read the face of a suit of armor), I'm guessing was pretty confused. "…Uh, yeah… Hi, Nadia, nice to meet you."

With some struggle, I managed to hoist myself back onto the edge. "Nice to meet you too, Alphonse."

He paused awkwardly. "O-oh, you can just call me Al."

I fought off a creepy fangirl squeal—that was reserved for Destiny, not _dignified_ people like me—and merely smiled. "Alright, Al then. Anyways, I've gotta see if I can't wake up Destiny." Feeling really off-balance, what with my missing leg and all, I leaned across the small gap between my bed and hers, stuck my arms out, and pulled myself across.

I twisted my body so that I could dangle my remaining leg over the edge of her bed. I nudged Destiny, but she didn't react. So I said loudly, shaking her, "Wake up, Destiny! I think I just saw a golden tiger!"

Destiny moaned and rolled over. "Go away, you zebra-striped, purple polka-dotted koala," she mumbled before settling again.

I think that all three of us sweat-dropped.

I frowned, disappointed. _I was so _sure_ that one would work…!_ I thought.

Then an idea struck me. I grinned evilly.

I leaned over and whispered in her ear, making sure I was quiet enough where neither Ed nor Al would overhear. "Oh, Destiny," I whispered in a sing-song voice, "Edward Cullen wants to talk to you~!"

* * *

_**~~Destiny's POV~~**_

"Oh, Destiny," the zebra-striped, purple polka-dotted koala sang, "Edward Cullen wants to talk to you~!"

My eyes shot open and I bolted upright, screaming. "_NOOOOO_! I DON'T _WANT_ TO DIE FROM A SPARKLY FAIRY-VAMPIREEEEEEE!" I wailed.

It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. Then I glared at Nadia, furious. "Why, _you_…!"

She looked at me innocently. "Whoops, did I say Edward _Cullen_? Teehee, I meant Edward _Elric_," she said, voice practically dripping with fake obliviousness. She _knew_ how much I hated Edward Cullen! That _jerk_!

At first, I didn't fully process what she'd said and attempted to whack her upside the head, but instead I just felt dulled throbbing. "What the—?!" I gasped, gaping at my stub of an arm. I grabbed it disbelievingly, then sighed and dropped my hand when the events from before flooded back to me. "Oh, that's right…" Then my eyes widened as what she'd said finally dawned on me. "Wait, that means that—"

I jerked my head to look beyond the pillow of my bed, where Ed was currently stepping up, Al a few feet behind him.

I stared openly at Edward. _…Holy crap he's even HOTTER in real life! _I internally squealed.

Seeing my stare, his golden eyes widened slightly and he looked away.

Nadia elbowed me, bringing me down to Earth—I mean, Amestris. "Well, Destiny," she said, "let me _introduce_ you to the Elric Brothers. I want you to _meet_ Edward and Alphonse."

It took me a moment to realize that she was emphasizing those words so that I wouldn't screw up and mention we were from Earth or something like that. "Oh, hello, Elric Brothers," I said carefully, "I've heard stories of the rumored Fullmetal Alchemist, and I've wanted to meet you for quite some time." I swallowed and managed a weak smile. "Nice to meet you, Edward and Alphonse Elric."

They nodded slowly. Ed still didn't look at me.

"Anyways," Nadia informed me in the false-sweet voice from before, "Ed and Al wanted to talk to us about how we got here, and I didn't want to tell them anything without you awake. But now that you are, won't you be so kind as to tell them what happened to us?"

I gaped at her. _Why, you little…! _I thought angrily. "Um, sure…" I turned to the two of them again, Al looking at me expectantly, Ed… well, he looked at a spot over my shoulder, but still didn't look directly at me.

I racked my brain for a response. Then I decided just to give them half the truth. "Well, we were going camping," I replied cautiously, "and we were just minding our own business when suddenly, a bear attacked us. It chased us everywhere, and we eventually lost our arm and leg. I managed to get us to town before we collapsed in the road." I conveniently forgot to mention the part about the Gate and being from another world.

"That's _horrible_!" someone exclaimed. We all turned and saw Winry, with one hand over her mouth, a wrench in the other, looking shocked. "You know what? I feel bad, so I'm going to make you two some automail, if you want."

All of us stared at her for a moment.

She blinked. "_Oh_! My name's Winry Rockbell. And you are…?"

I continued to stare for a moment. _So this is Winry, huh? _I marveled. Then I remembered her question. "R-right. I'm Destiny."

"And I'm Nadia," Nadia chimed, sliding off to her bed.

Winry grinned. "Alright, you two. I'm going to make you some automail! Don't you worry; you're looking at the best automail mechanic in the _world_!"

_Trust me;_ I thought, _given the choice, I wouldn't choose anyone else. _

Ed, seeming annoyed, barked, "Hey, don't you have anything _else _to do?! Such as, fix _mine_?!"

The wrench went flying and hit him right in the forehead. "_AAAUGH_!" he yelled, falling to the ground backwards, gripping his head.

Winry glared. "Well, it's _your_ fault for breaking the automail to _begin_ with! And their situation is much more urgent! We'll have fixed yours in maybe a week. But at least starting _theirs_ is much higher on my priority list."

Edward growled stubbornly.

"Ed," I said, pouting, "you're not being very nice to any of us."

"She's right~!" an extremely heavy voice suddenly hollered. We watched in disbelief as Major Armstrong stepped past Winry.

"O-oh yeah," Winry explained sheepishly, "I was about to tell you that Major Armstrong is here."

Major Armstrong flexed his muscles, shredding his uniform shirt, and—quite to my shock—_literally_ sparkled. Seriously. Pink star-shaped sparkles just inexplicably _appeared_. "Boys, Colonel Mustang told me to watch over you two, but you need some manners~!" He flexed his muscles the other way. "You need to _respect_ these poor ladies in their terrible ordeal~! You need the image of a _true_ man to _inspire_ you~!"

He then walked up to me and Nadia and bowed, still sparkling inexplicably. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong, at your service~!"

The two of us just kind of gaped.

A large stream of tears poured down the side of his face as he continued to sparkle. "You have been struck speechless by my _manly_ physique~! Yes, my muscles are both a _blessing_ and a _curse_~!"

To my extreme relief, Edward sighed exasperatedly, face-palming. "Major, is there a _point_ to you being here?"

"Ah, yes~," he replied, thankfully stepping back some to face him, "the Colonel wants you to report to him again on your current findings~!"

Ed moaned. "Yeah, yeah, I'll go find a phone…" he muttered, walking away.

"H-hey! I'll go too!" Al cried, chasing after him.

"Why, you backstabbing—GET BACK HERE, YOU TWO!" I yelled, hopping off the bed and chasing after them as threateningly as I could with only one arm.

To my relief, Winry stepped into the doorframe, blocking their path. "Nuh-uh," she snapped, "you can do that later. You aren't getting away _that_ easily."

He scowled and tried to get past her. "To he—"

I punched him right across the face.

"OUCH!" he yelled. He grabbed his cheek. "What was _that_ for?!"

I glowered. "That's the one thing I don't like about you," I hissed, "the urge to cuss every chance you get. _No cussing_."

Ed opened his mouth to retort, but then he frowned in confusion. "A thing you don't like about me?" he repeated.

_Crap! I slipped up!_ I gasped internally. "_Guys like_ you!" I quickly covered. "I hate it when _guys like_ you cuss at every opportunity! Yeah…"

Edward paused, but seemed to buy it. He shrugged and turned away. "Whatever. I just don't understand women."

I pursed my lips. "Clearly."

Then I remembered something. "Hey, Winry!" I called.

"Hm?" she replied, smiling.

I already knew what the response would be, but I needed to keep up the act. So I asked, "Um, just out of curiosity… how long does the automail surgery take?"

She looked up, thoughtful. "Umm… well, I've been improving a lot, and it usually takes a week or so to get the basics done, so, hm… I'd say, maybe a year or two?"

I unintentionally cringed a bit. But I knew what I wanted to say: I'd do what Ed did. "Well, I'm not sure how much it'll cost, but… If it's not too much to ask, can I do it in one day?"

No one had been moving to begin with, but once the words had left my mouth, it became much more obvious in the shocked tension.

It was Winry who finally broke the silence. "B-but," she stuttered, "that's c-crazy! Don't you realize—?!" She broke off.

I pretended to be confused. "If that's too difficult, then I can do it in three days, maybe. And I don't have any money, but I do have some gold that I can sell to repay you…"

She shook her head vigorously. "Oh, no, that's not it! And I won't let you spend a cent, this in on me! It's just… well, Ed said the same thing."

I continued with my charade. "Whoa, are you _serious_?!" I walked up next to Ed and slapped his automail arm playfully. "Wow. I guess great minds really _do_ think alike, huh?"

His automail arm shuddered against my hand and fell to the ground with a loud CLANG.

There was another very, very long pause. This time, I began to sweat nervously.

"Alright, that was _not_ my fault. It's Ed's fault for doing… whatever he was doing," was the first thing out of my mouth.

He spun around and gawked at me. "_My_ fault?!" he cried. "_You're_ the one who knocked it off!"

I crossed my arms. "You really think someone with merely one arm and incredible blood loss like me could do major damage to a steel arm without it being damaged beforehand? _Please_. Unless, of course, you doubt Winry's automail-making skills?"

Ed gulped as you could practically _see_ Winry's angry aura focused on him. "B-but it was holding together just fine until I brought _you_ here! If you weren't so _heavy_, then maybe it wouldn't have broken!"

I raised my eyebrows disbelievingly. "Seriously? Ed, I weigh a freaking 82 pounds. I'm severely _underweight_ for my age. So I couldn't possibly…" I blinked and remembered my bag. I quickly spun in a circle and located my bag next to where I'd been sleeping before I turned back to Edward. "The weight you felt was actually my _backpack_. And if it really bothered you so much, then you could've just handed it to your brother!"

Al stepped back awkwardly at the sudden attention focused on him.

A strange expression crossed Ed's face. "…It's still _your_ fault for carrying so much stuff," he grumbled stubbornly.

I yawned, seizing my golden opportunity to make an impact. "Yeah, yeah," I replied in boredom, "tell that to the judge, Shorty."

Have you ever seen frustration/anger-anime-popping-veins in real life? Well, it turns out that the show mimicked Ed's perfectly. Several of them appeared all over his face as he completely lost it. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT HE NEED NOT FEAR BEING CRUSHED BY A BOOT BECAUSE HE FITS SO EASILY BETWEEN THE GROOVES OF THE SOLE?!" Edward screamed, lunging at me.

I squealed in a cross of fear and excitement and ran. "HEEELP _MEEEEEE_!" I wailed half-jokingly, dashing behind Alphonse.

"W-wait!" Al tried to object.

Ed circled around Al as I ran, keeping him between us. Yes, using him as a shield was kind of playing dirty, but hey, it's not like _he'd_ get hurt. "NOOOOO! THE PIPSQUEAK IS GOING TO KILL _MEEEEE_!"

Several more veins appeared on his face and he lunged at me again. "PIPSQUEAK?! _PIPSQUEAK_?! I'M NOT A PIPSQUEAK YOU ANNOYING BLOODY IDIOT—!"

He continued to screech some random nonsense, thrashing wildly and trying to slash at me with his left (and currently only) arm, but Al caught him in mid-air, holding him back. "B-Brother! Please!"

Ed's automail leg accidentally whacked against Al's armor, and it went slack and fell to the ground.

We all froze again mid-motion.

Then, after what felt like an infinity, Winry threw another wrench at Ed's forehead. "IDIOT!" she yelled.

Major Armstrong came up next to Al and took Edward by the back of the shirt. He held him several feet off the ground.

"Well, now, Edward Elric~!" he lectured, sparkling as he flexed his other arm, "Now that you know how _they_ feel, perhaps you will give these young ladies the _respect_ they _deserve_~!"

Ed twitched angrily. "Sh…shaddup…" he muttered, seething.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. The hilarity of the whole thing overwhelmed me, and I fell over, laughing like crazy.

Everyone stared at me.

"What's so funny?!" Ed demanded angrily.

I struggled to breathe through my laughter. "It's… you…" I gasped out before I burst out laughing again.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?!" he yelled, fighting against Armstrong's grip to no avail.

I finally caught my breath. "I'll show you," I replied, grinning as I strolled over to my backpack, giggling every few seconds.

I crouched down next to it and unzipped it (it's more difficult than you would think to unzip a bag with only one arm). I searched through the various stuff in there before smirking victoriously and pulling out a yellow measuring tape and a pencil.

"Hey, Al?" I asked, holding out the pencil. "Can you mark above my head?"

He flinched (can a suit of armor even do that?). "S-sure," he replied in confusion, taking it.

Shaking slightly from being off-balance, I pressed my back against a wall and placed the metallic tip of the measuring tape under my foot before straightening as best as I could and stretching it out as best as I could.

Alphonse scratched at the wall above me before stepping back with a CLANG.

I stepped away, keeping my foot on the measuring tape as I looked at my height. "Four feet, ten inches," I read. "Just barely over 147 centimeters." I turned to Al. "Thanks, Al," I told him, taking back my pencil.

I turned to Armstrong. "Major Armstrong," I addressed him, "hold Edward against the wall. And try to make sure he doesn't fall over, please."

And I looked at Ed as the Major moved him. "And, Ed," I commanded, "press your foot against the metal. Don't let go."

Edward scowled and again tried (and failed) to get out of Armstrong's hold and attack me. "What if I don't want to?!"

I gave him an intimidating look and flexed my fingers on my left hand. They made a menacing cracking sound, even with no right arm to crack them against. "I wasn't asking," I told him smugly, "I was _telling_."

As Major Armstrong supported him against the wall, I crouched down next to his boot. "Oi, no cheating, Ed," I lectured, pulling it off. Then I placed his foot on the measuring tape.

I stood and scratched a dash into the wall with the pencil over his head—yes, his head, not the hair antennae/_ahoge_; that trick wouldn't fool me—and stepped back as Armstrong lifted Ed again and handed him off to Al, who held him kind of like luggage. "Four feet, eleven inches," I announced, noting that his mark was slightly higher than mine (which I'd known from the start, total fangirl that I am), "thus, 149 centimeters."

Everyone went silent for a while. Then Winry exclaimed, "SERIOUSLY?!"

I nodded. "Yeah, Ed's two centimeters taller than me."

Edward's mood shift was probably the most dramatic change I've ever seen him have. "YEEEEES!" he cheered, "I'M TALLER THAN YOU! I'M TALLER THAN YOU!"

I shrugged. "Yep. That's why it's so funny that you freaked out. Besides, I don't really care about my height, because I'm still growing, albeit slowly." I paused and observed Ed still cheering. I decided to wreck his pride. "'Course, I'm not so sure about _you_…"

Edward froze. "YES, I AM!" Ed yelled. "I'M STILL GROWING!"

Boy, screwing with him was fun. "Oh, really?" I asked, amused. "How old are you?"

Ed pursed his lips. "Uh… 15?"

As I'd known. Heh. "I'm 12, turning 13 in July, and I only know of _three people_ smaller than me in my grade. _Three_. And you're a whole two centimeters taller than me as a 15-year-old. Congrats. You're taller than a pipsqueak."

Aaaaaaand the return of the temper tantrum! "WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' A PIPSQUEAK YOU TINY LITTLE—?!"

"I'm calling _me_ a pipsqueak, you _dolt_!" I interrupted in an annoyed shout. "_Gosh_!"

Armstrong sparkled inexplicably again. "Madame," he said, "you seem quite like someone I know in the military."

I frowned, surprised. "Oh, really?" I asked. "Who?"

He scratched his mustache absently. "Hmm… perhaps a cross between Lt. Hawkeye and Colonel Mustang."

…_Okay, that was unexpected. _"Er… who?"

Major Armstrong snapped to attention. "Oh, my apologies. I'll have to introduce you to them at some point."

I wasn't really sure how to respond to that. "Uh… okay…"

"Hey, Destiny!" Nadia called out, annoyed, catching our attention. "Don't forget, _I'm_ still here!"

I blinked. "O-oh yeah, sorry." Then I frowned. "What?"

Nadia pursed her lips and gestured me closer. I raised my eyebrows before cautiously strolling over to the bedside. "What is it?" I whispered in her ear.

She looked at me incredulously. "Earlier, you said that you wanted to do the surgery in a _day_."

I shrugged. "I corrected myself and said maybe a few."

"That's not the point! The point is, don't you remember how painful that was for Ed?! You're not _used_ to that kind of pain! You could _kill_ yourself!"

My jaw dropped. "_Seriously_?!" I questioned incredulously, now not bothering to whisper. "This is about the _surgery_?!" I snickered despite myself. "Don't worry; I've got an idea for that, too."

I grinned and crouched down next to my backpack and searched through it again, putting my pencil and measuring tape back in. I pulled out a First Aid kit.

Nadia gawked at me. "SERIOUSLY?!" she screamed. "You had _that_ all along?!"

"Um… yes?" I answered, confused.

She scowled. "If you had _that_, you could've just wrapped our wounds to _begin_ with!"

I sweat-dropped. "Well, _excuse me_! I'm sorry; I was kind of focused on _not dying_. That really wasn't on my mind at the time!" I cried defensively. "Anyways, as I was saying…"

I popped open the First Aid kit and yanked out a small, white bottle. I held it out to her.

Nadia's jaw dropped. "Painkiller?!" she gasped, face-palming. "Of _course_!"

Then we noticed we were being stared at again.

"…Painkiller?" Winry asked nervously. "Is that a type of poison or something?"

We stared back for a moment. Then we looked at each other.

We burst out laughing.

"P-p-_poison_?!" Nadia managed through laughter.

"Painkiller… a p-p-_poison_…" I giggled. I caught my breath first and finally said, "Oh, no, it's nothing like that! I guess you don't have it here, do you? Well, it's a type of medicine that makes it so you can't feel pain. The particular medicine I'll use makes it so you fall asleep, that way you won't feel any pain during surgery. But the downsides are that you can only use them occasionally or else you'll get really sick, and you'll be really out of it for a while."

Winry's eyes widened and she clapped her hands together. "That's _so_ cool!" she exclaimed, beaming. "Where in the world are you _from_?! My clients would be _so_ happy if I could just import some of that!"

The laughter went right out of us. "Um," I said uncomfortably, "actually, we're from… really, _really_ far away. We took great pains to make our way over here. So… I really don't think that you'll be able to get anything from there…"

Her face fell. "…Oh…" Winry mumbled, disappointed.

An awkward silence followed.

"W-wait!" Nadia said, drawing attention to her. "I know all the ingredients in painkillers like this. I studied it several years ago. So… if you want, I can help you make some."

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that Nadia's, like, a super-genius or something. She's skipped several grades, and the only reason why she's in seventh instead of, like, college or something is that she wanted to stay relatively close to her real age group. So she's an 11-year-old in seventh grade, and her only _normal_ (meaning, not several years above her age) class is Spanish. She hates that class. Anyways, she's some sort of mastermind who knows practically _everything_, particularly in math and science, although she's advanced in other categories, too.

Winry's face lit up again. "Really?!" she cried happily. "Oh, _thank_ you! What's in it?!"

Nadia got that look in her eyes that she had whenever she was thinking about stuff that I couldn't understand. "Hmm… well, in any NSAID or a Tylenol PM, there's Benadryl, also known as diphenhydramine, promethazine, antihistamines, and—"

"TALK LIKE THAT SOME _OTHER_ TIME!" I interrupted, fearful of my mind exploding.

She blinked and came back to reality. "Oh, right. Sorry." Nadia turned back to Winry. "I'll tell you how to make it later. But as long as Destiny's got a painkiller, I'd appreciate it if you did my automail as soon as possible, too."

Winry nodded, smiling. "Just leave it to me! I'll take your measurements and start working on your automail ASAP. For the both of you, it'll probably take… hmm… somewhere around three days. And as for _Edward_—" She shot him a death-glare. Ed hid as best as he could behind Alphonse's armor. "—I can work on your automail after that, but until then, you're just going to have to use some spares. I can't just keep fixing your automail, Ed. If you're just going to keep on breaking it, then I'll just have to stop making them for you _altogether_. Now, how does _that_ sound?!"

Ed looked pale.

Winry sighed. "Well, whatever. Now that all this drama's said and done, how about we all grab a bite to eat?"

"YES!" Edward yelled before falling out of Alphonse's arms. Then he somehow managed to get to a wall, stand up, and lean against it. "FINALLY, FOOD!"

Ed tried to walk (or rather, jump on his single leg) through the door, but Winry stopped him. "Not so fast," she snapped, grabbing him by his shirt. "Aren't you supposed to report to Mustang?"

He froze and moaned. "_Ugh_, him again… yeah, yeah… I'll go find that phone now," Edward muttered before hobbling out of the room.

I walked over to Nadia and held out my (only) hand. "Need some help?"

"Hold up, you two!" Winry cut in, shaking her head. "Nadia, you shouldn't try to walk, and Destiny, you shouldn't try to support her. You've both lost too much blood; if you strain yourselves, then it'll just aggravate your wounds again."

"Then how are we supposed to—?" I began.

That's when Major Armstrong stepped up, sparkling again while flexing his muscles. "Don't worry, girls~!" he shouted, picking us up and hoisting us over his shoulders. "THIS TEQNIQUE HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THROUGH THE ARMSTRONG FAMILY LINE FOR _GENERATIONS_~!"

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" we wailed in unison while being lugged off.

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaand done! XD Wow, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be!**

**Also, if anyone was offended by the Twilight reference and happens to like Edward Cullen, well… sorry. He's a sparkly fairy-vampire, and skinny-looking and weak. He does not deserve to share the same name as Edward Elric's. **

**Review topics:**

**Is anyone OOC (Out Of Character)?**

**What do you think the Colonel will say in this phone call? **

**Was any of the chapter choppy, awkward, too long, or odd? If anything's wrong, I need to know! Also, tell me if I had any spelling errors/grammar errors! I hate those! (But only tell me I'm wrong about something if you're sure. Like, don't tell me "Your writing wrong and you spelled Winery wrong!" or something like that. That's just annoying, and misleading might I add.) **

**Review and Recommend~ **


	3. Milk, Mimics and Madness

Chapter 3: Milk, Mimics and Madness

**A/N: Wellllll, this chapter felt really rushed to me… and the majority of it is just fillers… -_- Blersh. **

**Alright, anyways! Well, all of you readers out there… keep in mind that I had a reason for naming this story **_**Otherworldly Alchemy**_**. It's not just because it's a catchy title (although that's partially the reason). **

**Now, enjoy! **

* * *

_**~~Ed's POV~~**_

I sighed and hopped through the house shakily, leaning against the walls for support. _Well, I've gotta report to the freaking Colonel now, _I thought bitterly, _but at least it's better than putting up with the Major, Winry, Nadia, and that annoying psychopath chick Destiny, all in the _same room_. _

"Hey, Pinako!" I called, spotting her at the top of the stairs. "Where's the phone again?"

Pinako turned her head to me. "Eh? Edward, it's at the front desk. Don't you remember?"

I frowned. "…No… it's been a while since I've been here, y'know."

She mumbled something about forgetful dogs of the military, but I ignored her and staggered away again. _Front desk, front desk, front desk—oh, _there_ it is!_

I entered in the number before snagging the phone off its perch.

"Hello?" Mustang's voice said into the phone after a few moments, sounding bored.

I scowled distastefully, leaning against the wall. "This is the Fullmetal Alchemist, reporting in, Colonel Mustang."

He made a _hmm_ sound. "Ah, yes; if it isn't Fullmetal. Coming up with any new leads on Scar or the Stone?"

I huffed angrily. "Very funny. We both know that I'm not going to get anything anytime soon."

I could practically _hear _his smirk. "True, but I still have to ask. So, nothing? No new developments at all?"

I nearly yelled at him, but then I remembered Nadia and Destiny. I hesitated, but I knew I was bound by the state to tell him, so I reluctantly began. "Actually… we were on the outskirts of Resembool when we saw two girls, unconscious. One's named Nadia, and the other's named Destiny. Destiny's missing an arm, and Nadia's missing a leg. We brought them to Winry's, and that's where we are now."

Mustang paused on the other end of the line. "Oh, really?" he asked, sounding vaguely interested. "Have they told you what happened to them?"

I frowned. "…Yeah, but not much… they told us they were attacked by a bear while out camping, but they won't say where they're from, just that it's really far away and hard to get to. But I don't think it's really that important or anything."

The Colonel paused again, thinking. "When you come back to Central, bring them with you."

I blinked, surprised. "What? Why?"

"Don't question the orders of your superiors. Just know that we've got to do a little deeper interrogations; in times like these, you can never be too cautious."

I sighed, exasperated. "Fine," I said, annoyed, and about to hang up.

"Wait."

Frowning, I lifted the phone back up to my ear. "Yeah, what now?"

Roy hesitated. "Just… be careful, Fullmetal."

I raised my eyebrows. I had a feeling he wasn't talking about the girls. "Yeah," I replied, sighing. "I'll try."

"Oh, and tell them to wear TINY MINISKIRTS—!"

I hung up.

For a little while, I just stood there, stunned. _What's he so concerned about? _I wondered, ignoring the last thing he'd said.

"Ed."

I rolled against the wall and faced Pinako again. "Yeah?"

She smirked. "It's going to take a while to get your automail fixed, but in the meantime, I'm pretty sure you don't want to be hopping around like an idiot. Let's go fit you up with those spares again."

* * *

_**~~Destiny's POV~~**_

"Winry… you betrayed us…" I sobbed as Major Armstrong plopped Nadia and me down on chairs next to each other at the table several minutes later. Al had run off somewhere, I wasn't sure where.

Winry smiled sheepishly. "Heheh… yeah… well…"

Nadia sighed as Armstrong turned around and left, muttering about finding a new uniform shirt. "You know, Winry," she said in slight exasperation, "you could've just given me a crutch! I'm not helpless; I can walk on a crutch!"

Her eyes widened. She sweat-dropped. "Oh, whoops! You're right!" She laughed nervously. "I'll go find one. Sorry." Winry got up and left.

And, suddenly, we were all alone.

We stared at each other silently for a little bit. "Well," Nadia finally said, breaking the silence, "we're here."

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah… can you believe it? We finally met the Elric Brothers!"

"And Winry," she added.

I grimaced. "And Armstrong."

We sighed simultaneously. "And, who knows?" I continued. "Maybe we'll meet Mustang and Hawkeye."

A faint smile crossed her face. "And Havoc."

"And Izumi Curtis."

I felt a look of dread creep across my face. "And Führer King Bradley."

"And Lust."

"And Gluttony."

"And Envy."

"And Wrath…"

"And Lyra…"

"And Dante…"

"Can you really count them as two different people?"

"Hmm, good point. I dunno."

Suddenly, we were both grinning from ear to ear. "THIS IS GOING TO BE _SO_ _FUN_!" we cried in perfect harmony.

"Ugh, what are you two _screaming_ about?!" a voice snapped, annoyed. We turned and saw Edward scowling at us. I realized with a start that despite him still missing the arm, Ed wasn't leaning on anything, and I glanced down and spotted a white-colored plastic automail replacement leg. Ah, well, that would make sense.

"Oh, nothing," I replied casually, shrugging it off. "Just some girl talk. Anyways, glad to see you're up and about now."

He glared at me. "Yeah, I am. No thanks to _you_."

I rolled my eyes. "Geez, chill, Ed! Don't be such a killjoy."

Al suddenly stepped into the room. "Oh, _there_ you are, Brother!" he exclaimed. "I've been looking all over for you. You need to eat! You haven't eaten since last night."

Ed paused. "I haven't, have I?" He sighed. "Well, there's just been a lot on my mind. I haven't really had a chance."

Winry chose this moment to return. "I'm back!" she declared. "Here's your crutch, Nadia." She handed it to her.

Nadia took it, smiling. "Thanks," she replied, leaning it against her chair.

"And, Ed… Unless I misheard, you wanted to eat?"

He looked uncomfortable. "Er… yeah?"

She nodded approvingly. "Well, lucky for you guys, I'm here!" Winry announced. She pulled an apron out from somewhere and put it on over her clothes. "Now, Destiny," she urged. "What would you like?"

I looked up, thinking. "Hmm… well, I guess I'd just like some milk for now, if it isn't too much trouble," I responded.

Edward wrinkled his nose in revulsion. "Ew, you like _milk_?!" he cried, gagging.

I raised my eyebrows. "You don't like _milk_?!" I gasped, faking shock. "What the heck is wrong with you?!"

Ed curled his lips. "It's _disgusting_! It's like drinking _cow vomit_!"

I put my hand on my hip. "Well, milk is awesome, even if you're too stupid to see it, and I'll prove it!" I yelled, just as Armstrong came back, wearing a new uniform shirt.

"I finally found my spare shirt~!" he boomed.

"Armstrong! Perfect timing," I declared, grinning. "You need to be here for this."

Nadia's eyes widened. She gaped at me. "Are you going to do… _it_?" she asked, amazed.

I smirked and nodded. "Yep, I'm doing _it_."

"What is _it_?!" Edward demanded angrily. "It'd _better_ not be milk coming out of your nose! That's even _more_ disgusting!"

I ignored him. "Winry, can you go grab some milk?" I asked politely.

Winry, looking slightly confused, nodded. "Yeah, be right back." She ran off and came back a few seconds later with a gallon of milk and a glass cup. She set it down on the table and poured some milk into the glass. "Is this enough?"

I nodded and smiled. "Yep, thanks." Then I stared at her for a few more seconds. I reached into a pocket in my pants and pulled out a hair tie. I mimicked her hair the best I could. "How do I look?" I asked Nadia.

She scrutinized me for a second. "Close enough," she finally affirmed.

"Good." I then downed the entire glass of milk, fully aware of everyone's confused stares.

After I'd swallowed the last of it, I sighed and sat it down on the table again. I cleared my throat.

"Hi, I'm Winry Rockbell, the greatest automail mechanic in the _world_!" I suddenly declared in a perfect imitation of Winry's voice.

They all gawked at me. "YOU SOUND JUST LIKE ME!" Winry exclaimed.

I smirked.

"Destiny's got an odd talent of being able to mimic people's voices whenever she drinks milk," Nadia explained.

"That's right," I said in my normal voice, taking the hair tie out of my hair. "Give me any voice I've ever heard, and I'll mimic it perfectly. Usually I get in character by dressing up like whoever I'm mimicking."

Al stepped forward. "…So, can you mimic me?" he asked.

I frowned a bit. "Well, I can't mimic being in armor," I replied with some uncertainty, "but I can mimic your voice itself."

I frowned and stretched out my sleeves as best as I could to make it vaguely resemble Al's armor. I took a section of my bangs and wrapped the hair tie around it, that way it would somewhat resemble a spike like the one on the top of his helmet.

I filled up the glass with milk again and drank it all. I cleared my throat and paused.

"Hey, Brother!" I chirped in the voice that Al had as a human, "it's time to report to the Colonel!"

Again, they all gaped at me. "You sound _exactly_ like _me_!" Al cried, amazed.

I grinned, pulling out the hair tie and smoothing out my clothes again. "Thanks!"

Major Armstrong flexed his arms, shredding his shirt (AGAIN). "Perhaps you can imitate _me_, Miss Destiny~!" he proclaimed, sparkling (also AGAIN).

Smirking, I replied, "Don't offend me, Major. Of _course_ I can."

I gripped my bangs between my fingers and rolled it into a curled shape. I opted, however, not to shed my shirt. For obvious reasons.

I drank another glass of milk and coughed a bit. "THESE MUSCLES THAT I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH WILL BE YOUR _DOWNFALL_~!" I declared, somehow sparkling exactly like Armstrong as I posed, flexing my arm. I began to laugh proudly in Armstrong's ridiculously deep voice.

Emotional tears streamed down Major Armstrong's face as he placed a hand over his heart. "Your perfect mimicry will be remembered in the Armstrong family line for GENERATIONS~!" he swore, sparkling in perfect unison.

Everyone else, not including Nadia, inched back, looking terrified at my laughter. "E…_exactly_ like Armstrong… scary…" they all whimpered to each other.

"Well, yeah, _duh_. I told you," I said, watching in amusement as the random sparkling pink stars around me disappeared the second I reverted to my normal voice.

"So, hey, Destiny," Nadia cut in, "how about you do Edward?"

I blinked. "Huh?" both Ed and I said at the same time.

We stared at each other in an awkward silence. "Aw, man," I complained, "but he's so _hard_ to do…!"

"C'mon, _please_?" Winry begged, stepping forward.

"B-but—!" Ed tried to object.

"Yeah!" Al chimed in, "She's mimicked all of us! Now _you_ need to be mimicked!"

"Wait—!" he cried.

"Yes~!" Major Armstrong agreed, sparkling. "Destiny shall mimic you~!"

I moaned and rested my head on the table a moment. "Ugh… he'll be really hard, not to mention the irony, but…" I sighed. "Fine, I'll do it."

Ed looked horrified. "I _HATE_ MILK!" he yelled.

I scowled. "Yeah, yeah, I know. But _they_ want me to." I held out my hand in annoyance. "So gimme your freaking cloak."

He held his red cloak possessively against himself. "What?! _No_!"

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't want to do this, but majority rule makes it so I have to. So, too bad. If I want to get in character, then I'm going to have to wear your cloak."

He shook hi head angrily and backed up. "No! You aren't touching it!"

Winry cracked her knuckles and stood in front of him. "Give it. _Now_."

Ed paled.

Not too long thereafter, Winry was handing me Edward's cloak.

"Thank you," I said, smiling.

I put on Ed's cloak, making sure to hide my pale blue shirt at the front, and let the empty right sleeve just fall slack against me. With some struggle, I braided my hair and tied the end of it like Ed's.

"Well?" I asked Nadia, posing.

She studied me and smirked. "If Edward was a girl with light brown hair and blue eyes, then yes, you would look exactly like him."

"I LOOK _NOTHING_ LIKE THAT!" Ed yelled angrily, trying to fight his way over to me, but Winry wacked him on the head with a wrench again, stopping him.

"Ignore him," Winry said, "you look great."

I grinned evilly. "Wellll, this one's going to take some more milk than the other ones, but I'll do it."

Edward gagged as I filled my cup to the brim—probably just the thought of him drinking milk made him sick—and downed it all. Everyone stared at me in anticipation as I cleared my throat and paused for effect, eyes closed.

Then my eyes flew open. "WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO TINY YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE ME 'CUZ I DON'T LIKE MILK?!" I screamed suddenly, eyes burning and shaking my fist in rage.

They _oooooh_ed and clapped, meanwhile Al was holding back a fury-driven, struggling Ed from lunging at me.

"That was _amazing_!" Winry exclaimed.

I smirked, still in character. "Heh, milk is my specialty," I replied, just for the fun of hearing those words in Ed's voice.

"I AM GOING TO FREAKING _KILL YOUUUU_!" Ed screeched, fighting Alphonse even harder.

I shrugged carelessly, taking off the cloak. "Yeah, good luck with that," I said with a yawn in my normal voice, tossing his cloak at him. "Hey, Al?" I asked.

He looked to me, struggling to keep a hold on Ed. "Y-yeah?"

I carefully worded what I wanted to say, as to not arouse suspicion as to why I knew what I did. "If you don't mind, I really don't want to eat with someone who will probably try to kill me the entire meal. So… maybe you could take Ed away, and you two can eat later?"

I could practically see his relief. "U-um, yeah! That's a good idea, byeeeee!" Al ran off quickly, dragging a still-furious Ed behind him.

I had to fight off a snicker. Al was such a bad actor.

"Oh, and Winry," Nadia said, catching her attention, "after we eat, can you start working on the measurements for our automail? I'd really appreciate if we could be done as soon as possible."

Winry blinked before grinning. "Sure, just leave it to me! Right after we're all done eating, I'll get right to work!"

We smiled softly. "Thank you!"

* * *

_**~~Three days later, Destiny's POV~~**_

"Alright, make a fist."

I clenched my new automail hand.

"Now flatten it."

I flattened it out again.

"Open, close, open, close. Now, raise your arm… point to the ceiling… well, looks like it's all in working order!"

I grinned and stood up. "Whoa, this is _awesome_!" I cheered, pumping my brand-new automail fist into the air. "It feels totally real!"

Winry nodded approvingly, crossing her arms. She grinned proudly. "Yep! I have to say, I did a pretty good job!"

Nadia slowly made her way to us, taking long strides as she tested her new leg. "It's amazing," she marveled. "A complete miracle of science. Just enough titanium, aluminum, nickel, steel, platinum, and other metals to make the perfect imitation of the weight of the limbs, but much stronger. And don't even get me _started_ on the flawless nerve connectivity!"

Winry laughed, apparently understanding that gibberish. "Yeah! And thanks to you, I'll be able to have the surgery be as painless as possible! My clients will be _so_ thrilled!"

I held up my new arm, blocking out the rest of their nerd-speak as I stared in fascination at my new arm. It kind of reminded me of Ed's, but slightly smaller, with skinnier fingers, and a definite feminine feel to it. And if I closed my eyes, then I could almost believe it was my real arm.

I admired my new fake arm for a little longer before sighing and snagging a jacket and sliding it on. "Oi, Nadia," I cut in, annoyed, "Remember what we have to do?"

Nadia blinked. "Oh. Yeah, right. Sorry, Winry, I've gotta go! Bye!" She waved and followed me as we left the room.

"So, Destiny," Nadia said as we headed outside Winry's house, "we're _really_ going to ask them?"

I nodded. "Mm-hm. And with any luck, he'll say yes. Then again, luck isn't usually on our side. We may have to force him."

She gave me a frightened look. "Luck?! That's not luck! What if he's like Izumi Curtis?!"

I sighed in exasperation. "Trust me; he's _nothing _like his teacher. He couldn't _possibly_ be scary if he _tried_."

Now we were outside. I spotted Al lying on his back, staring up at the sky, and Ed next to him, sulking under a tree for some reason.

"Hey, you two!" I called out, catching their attention.

Edward shifted his head slightly and looked at us. "Oh, so you're awake now. Great," he mumbled carelessly before returning to his sulk.

We walked up next to Al, who was currently sitting up. "What's _his_ problem?" I asked him quietly.

Al paused. "He's upset that Winry still hasn't started on his automail. He wanted to be back at Central by yesterday."

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, sucks for him then. Anyways, there's something we wanted to talk to the two of you about."

They looked at us, Ed not seeming entirely interested.

I sucked in a breath. "You said that the Colonel wanted you to take us to Central with you the other day. Well, after your automail's fixed, can you teach us some alchemy first?"

Now we had their full attention. "WHAT?!" Ed cried. "NO WAY!"

I sighed. I'd expected as much. "Please?!" I begged, both of us getting on our knees. "We do know a little bit of alchemy, but we really want to know more! As a state alchemist, surely you can teach us a bunch of stuff! I promise we'll both train _really_ hard!"

A look of shock crossed his face, and I knew he was remembering that this was exactly what they'd done when they'd asked Izumi to be their teacher. He paused for a moment guiltily, eyebrow twitching. Then he sighed. "Fine. After my automail's fixed, I'll teach you some alchemy before we head to Central, on one condition…" He crossed his arms (one being the plastic-automail) before finishing. "I'll only train you if you can manage to knock me over after these two days of training by yourselves."

I grinned and nodded. "Fair enough. Alright, let's get started, Nadia!" I cheered, standing and running off to the other side of the house where we could practice.

* * *

"'Fair enough'?!" Nadia repeated angrily when we were out of earshot.

I scrunched my face together in confusion. "Yeah? So?"

"_So_?! Destiny, he's the freaking _Fullmetal Alchemist_! He's been doing alchemy for _years_! We've preformed alchemy, once, in _our_ world. That's it. You seriously expect _us_ to be able to take him down?!"

I shrugged. "Hey, we've got two days before Winry's done. We can learn some. And besides…" I smirked. "Even if we end up losing, I'll follow them incognito anyway. They can't force us not to follow them."

A look of confusion crossed her face. "Follow them?" she repeated incredulously. "Who said anything about following them?!"

Sighing, I replied, "Y'know, for a genius, you aren't really that smart…" Then I relented. "We can force them to let us come with them. The whole point of trying to get them to teach us alchemy is to convince them that we're useful enough to tag along in their journey. That way, all of our work to meet up with them in this world won't be for nothing. Understand _now_?"

She gave me an _ohhhh_ face. "_Now _I get it."

I pat her on the back. "Glad you understand. Now, let's get to practicing."

* * *

We spent the next two days working on alchemy.

I transmuted some grass into a loaf of bread ("I've always wanted to do that!" I commented, taking a bite out of it) and learning how to transmute my automail arm to the spike-thing that Ed always used in combat. ("Don't you think that's kind of cliché?" Nadia asked, to which I replied, "Naw… besides, we can't make _all_ our own moves.") I also transmuted a tree into a wooden bench to relax on.

Nadia transmuted sticks and rocks into hammers, and she learned how to transmute her automail foot so that there would be spikes on the bottom. She also transmuted her various hammers into a giant one, which she used to smash the bench that I'd been sitting on, screaming, "STOP SLACKING OFF!"

"Let's face it," Nadia said on the morning of the third day, sighing as she put on a purple long-sleeved shirt and skinny jeans. "We're doomed. There's _no way_ we'll win. And not to mention, with how little we've actually accomplished, it'll also be next to impossible to even try to follow them anywhere. We'll just end up getting lost or killed."

"Don't say that," I cried, even though I knew it was true. I wore a white tank top and baggy black pants (a different pair, though), with a loose-fitting navy-blue jacket over my tank top. "There's still a chance."

"Yeah," she replied, rolling her eyes, "there's a _chance_. About the same percentage of a chance of you shrinking Ed even smaller than he already is. Or of Ed drinking milk willingly. Or of Ed admitting he's short."

I chucked my blanket at her. "I GET IT!" I yelled. "No chance. But we can't back out _now_."

Nadia sighed. "Let's just hope he's in a good mood today," she said tiredly. "I really don't want to die today."

I moaned. "If we do what we're planning on, then he won't be," I replied in dread. "Let's just hope that Winry is a good funeral-planner, because she'll probably be working on two of them within the hour. Oh, and remind me to tell her not to let Armstrong do the eulogy."

* * *

After quickly gulping down our breakfasts—we'd woken up late, and thus we had to eat alone—we dashed outside to meet our challenger.

Winry, Armstrong and Pinako were sitting on the porch, with Ed out on the grass, stretching, and Al staring up at the sky. Again.

Upon seeing us, Ed grinned. "Well, first off, thanks for the painkiller. It made it a lot easier." He held up his automail arm for inspection.

Nadia laughed nervously. "Heheh, no biggie…"

Edward crossed his arms. "Now, you're _sure_ you want to do this? I'm not going to go easy on you two just because you're girls."

I twitched. "Are you trying to say that girls are weak and pathetic?!"

He looked confused. "What?! But I—I didn't say _any_ of that!"

I snapped. "So it _is_ true!" I screamed, attempting to lunge at Ed, but Nadia grabbed me and somehow managed to hold me back.

"Destiny, _chill_!" she cried, struggling to keep her grip on me. "He didn't mean it like that!"

"I DON'T CARE!" I yelled, "ANYBODY WHO THINKS THAT GIRLS ARE WEAK IS GOING TO _DIE_!"

Nadia slapped me.

"OW!" I gasped, gripping my cheek and pulling away.

"Sorry," she apologized for me, "Destiny is sensitive about guys thinking that girls are weak. She was made fun of a lot when she was little, so…" She trailed off.

"I… see…" Ed said uncertainly.

"Now you know how _I_ feel, Brother!" Al exclaimed.

Ed ignored him. "Well, let's get started, shall we? Your move."

_Right! _I thought. _We've gotta stick to the plan! Stick to the plan, stick to the plan, stick to the plan… _I walked forward several steps until I spotted a transmutation circle I'd secretly drawn into the ground the day before. _Ah-ha! There it is! _

"Ready… set… GO!" I shouted, before clapping my hands together quickly and slamming them down on the transmutation circle, which then glowed blue.

"GAH!" Ed cried out, shielding his eyes as a dusty smokescreen suddenly erupted out of the ground.

Nadia and I dashed in opposite directions, me running behind a tree and her running into the middle of the field. "HEY, ED!" Nadia shouted as soon as my smokescreen disappeared.

He raised his eyebrows, obviously expecting a trap but going with it nonetheless. He clapped his hands and transmuted his automail arm into the spike-dagger thing.

"Alchemy without a circle?!" Nadia gasped, faking shock.

Edward smirked as he ran towards her, dagger-arm raised. "Yeah, pretty cool, huh?" He slashed at her, but she leapt back quickly, clapped her hands together, and slammed them to the ground, revealing another hidden transmutation circle that we'd planted yesterday. It glowed, and the giant hammer that she'd buried yesterday underneath the circle came out of the ground, held by an oversized hand made from mud.

"Yeah? Well, try _this_ on for size!" she said loudly as the giant dirt-hand brought down the hammer.

Ed backflipped out of the way. "Not bad," he complimented, clapping his hands together and placing one on the side of the hand, making it sink back into the ground before he charged at her again.

_That's my cue! _I thought, jumping out from behind the tree. "HEY, SHORTY!" I screamed tauntingly. "OVER HERE, YA PINT-SIZED MIDGET!"

Edward spun around so fast you would've thought he was on fire—and if you counted the look on his face, then he kind of was. "SHORTY?!" he repeated, running straight at me full-force. "_PINT-SIZED MIDGET_?!"

I screamed, terrified, and sprinted as fast as I could in the opposite direction. "I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID THE OTHER DAY ABOUT EDWARD NOT BEING SCARYYYYY!" I wailed, running for my life.

I skid to a halt, however, when I heard him cry out. I pivoted to face him, and saw him directly in front of where I'd been standing before, enveloped in a circular blue light from yet another hidden transmutation circle. "A-an _alchemy trap_?!" he gasped, shocked.

I felt immense relief that it'd worked, but wasted no time, knowing that the trap wouldn't last long against Ed of all people. I ran at him, but just as I got next to him, Ed yelled at me angrily as he struggled to get out, "YOU FREAKING _COWARD_! USING SUCH LOW TRICKS JUST PROVES HOW MUCH OF A _WEAKLING_ YOU ARE!"

I snapped.

In exactly five seconds, all of this happened:

I clapped my hands together in sheer anger and leapt at his feet inside the transmutation circle.

Ed finally managed to break free of the alchemy-binding, and his feet just barely left the circle.

I panicked. _Crap! _I screamed internally, _Now that he's out, the alchemy won't work! _

Suddenly, out of the blue, my head filled with information on matter and scientific equations that had gone in one ear and out the other my entire life. _Decrease the volume… increase the density… keep the mass… _

_It's the same amount of matter in the substance… _

My hands grazed against Ed.

A bright blue light flashed.

Then the five seconds were over, and I collapsed forward.

* * *

_**~~Ed's POV~~**_

Everything was black for a little bit. I couldn't feel anything, but I wondered what had happened. I could've _sworn_ that I'd been out of the transmutation circle when Destiny attacked me, but I guess not, because she couldn't _possibly_ do alchemy without a circle.

Then I finally began to feel a heavy, numb, uncomfortable-in-my-own-skin sensation in my body.

I could hardly move, but somehow, I managed to crack open my eyes.

"_What the_…?!" I cried, gaping at my surroundings.

There were ginormous, green, pointy things surrounding me, all pointing upwards. I lay in a heap in the dirt.

I quickly sat upright. My limbs felt like lead—particularly my automail, which I found odd, because I was pretty sure there wasn't any lead in them—but I somehow managed to stand up, although I swooned and nearly fell over.

…_What's going on?! _I wondered in shock.

Then I heard an ear-shattering moan. It sounded like Destiny, but about a hundred times louder. "W…what just happened?" she mumbled.

Then she came into view.

You know how when someone is up really close to you, it looks like they're huge, but when they get really far away, they look tiny? Well, it was confusing, because she LOOKED huge, but… she seemed far away… and it looked like she was floating over the tall green things in a crouch position.

…_Wait a second… _I thought in dread.

She blinked, disoriented. "Ugh… what's going on?" Then she glanced down.

Suddenly, it felt like every one of my worst nightmares was coming true. _…Please don't be what I think this is! _I hoped silently, gaping up at Destiny.

Destiny gawked back at me wordlessly.

"Hey, Destiny!" I heard Nadia's voice yell in horror and shock, but it sounded faint, distant. "What the heck just happened to Ed?!"

Destiny continued to stare at me in transfixed horror. "I… I think I just… I think I just…" She swallowed, and then blurted, "I THINK I JUST SHRUNK EDWARD ELRIC!"

* * *

**A/N: Dun dun **_**duuuuun**_**~! O_o**

**Yes, I am such an evil author! I just shrunk Edward Elric! XD Practically taboo… to Ed, anyway. *snickers* **

**Wellllll, Ed is not going to be happy. '^.^**

**Anyways! **

**Review topics: **

**Was the chapter to random/abrupt? (I just never found a good place to stop until that point.) **

**Has this story gotten any funnier than before? **

**Do ANY of you understand what happened? XD I don't want to have to explain matter and density and volume… ugh, it's all so confusing. Destiny had trouble understanding it, too -_- **

**R&R, peoplez!**


	4. I'm NOT Tiny!

Chapter 4: I'm NOT Tiny!

**A/N: And I'm FINALLY done! ^.^ Yayz! **

**So, several things I wanted to mention: **

**1) …I lied. :P This isn't **_**entirely**_** set in FMA; there is going to be some Brotherhood stuff, too, because my sister has been showing me some stuff from it even though I'm too busy to watch it myself, and I'm like, "Meh, might as well." Plus, like I said, I'm adding stuff to the series that didn't happen in either, so I might as well. So, derp. **

**2) Have ANY of you seen Ouran High School Host Club?! O_O Seriously! I watched it, and Tamaki has the same voice actor as Ed! DX They are complete opposite characters. I'm just like, "What the…?!" I thought his voice was familiar at first, then he threw a temper tantrum and I'm like *gasp* "THAT'S ED'S VOICE!"**

**3) I changed the cover pic because of Destiny's alchemy. :P But if someone ****preferred the previous cover, then let me know, 'kay? **

**4) Quick reminder. Last chapter, I left off with Ed getting—GASP—**_**shrunk**_**! XD Yes, it is physically possible to shrink things. I am not just making stuff up. Besides, Alphonse says it himself in the series at, like, episode 1. He was talking to the shop owner guy in Lior after fixing the broken radio and said something along the lines of, "With alchemy, I can make it bigger or smaller, too." So, yes. It is possible, DON'T JUDGE ME! I'm going off FACTS here! Besides, FMA is a lot more science-related/physics-centric than other stuff I've written about before, so I'm trying to up the intelligence on this story. :P **

**I made up a new word: traffilddefefiff. O_O **

**Me: *about to post new chapter* Heh, I shrunk Ed. *snickers* **

**Ed: Are you the one they call UltimateOtakuGirl100?! **

**Me: *spins around on chair* WHAT THE—?! **_**EDWARD ELRIC**_**?! **

**Ed: *death glare* Yeah, that's me. Now, answer the question! **

**Me: *gulps* U-um, yeah, that's my username… my real name's Gabi, though… **

**Ed: *cracks knuckles* Then **_**you're**_** the one who wrote about **_**shrinking me**_**…! *evil grin* **

**Me: O_o Eep! *cowers* Please don't hurt meeee! **

**Ed: *lunges* **

**Al: *grabbing Ed and holding him back* Please, Brother! Calm down! You don't need to go to every author's house that makes you angry…! **

**Me: "O_O **_**ALPHONSE**_**?!**

**Ed: LEMME AT 'ER! LEMME AT 'ER! LEMME AT 'ER! **

**Winry: *whacks Ed on the head with her wrench* **

**Ed: *KO'd* **

**Me: WHEN DID YOU ALL GET HERE?! **

**Mustang: Unimportant. I just suggest you hurry and put him back to normal in your story before he regains consciousness… **

**Me: *sweatdrop* U-um… okay… **

'**^.^ Heheh… you should probably just read now… **

* * *

_**~~Destiny's POV~~**_

I gaped at the now-miniature Ed, stunned beyond belief.

I'd sat up in a crouch position next to the transmutation circle, and Nadia had now come up behind me, shocked.

"SAY _WHAT_?!" Nadia, Winry, Armstrong, and Pinako screamed in unison.

I began to tremble a bit. I couldn't think clearly.

_I just shrunk Edward Elric. And without the transmutation circle, might I add. _

There he was, just standing there, barely outside the transmutation circle: probably no more than five or six centimeters tall, dazed but otherwise looking exactly the same as normal, with his red coat, black jacket and black pants, golden hair and golden eyes, except, well… _mini_.

I slowly reached up with my automail arm and pinched myself on the cheek. I winced. _Nope, not dreaming._

Mini-Ed and I stared at each other in shock and horror wordlessly for a little while longer.

Ed was the first to react. He glared up furiously at me. "WHAT DID YOU—?!" His hands abruptly flew up to cover his mouth and cut himself off, but it was too late; we'd already heard his voice. His _ridiculously high_ voice.

My jaw dropped. "You—your voice—you—_squeaked_!" I gasped out before falling over backwards, laughing uncontrollably.

At this point, everyone had stood up and walked over, wanting to see this new development. "What happened to Ed?" Winry whispered, bewildered. "And what's wrong with his _voice_?!"

Nadia stared at him, stunned. She replied for me because I was currently doubled over in laughter. "…Somehow, Destiny managed to tighten all of Ed's matter together and therefore shrink him… even though she's completely failed at anything science-related her entire life… and the reason why his voice is all high-pitched is that his lungs have compressed much tighter, making it so that he can't take in as much oxygen, and thus altering his voice." She slowly smirked. "Kind of like when you try to breathe in helium from a balloon."

He glared at her. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Ed squeaked angrily, but it just plain sounded _hilarious_.

Somehow, despite the fact that this was completely and utterly _hysterical_, I managed to stand up again with my laughter barely under control, although I was still snickering every few seconds anyway. "E-Ed…" I panted, "you're… you're… so… _puny_!"

Tiny anger-vein-thingies appeared all over his face. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO PUNY YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE ME?!" he squealed in fury, thrashing. Ed tried to run at me, but the second he lifted his tiny foot off the ground, he lost his balance and fell forward face-first.

I hadn't had a very strong hold on my laughter to begin with, and that was what set it off again. I collapsed again, laughing so hard I felt tears streak down my cheeks.

Winry had to physically clamp her hand over her mouth to suppress her giggle. Nadia's lips curled into a grin as she fought off a laugh with all her might.

Pinako and Armstrong looked like they were suppressing laughter, too. "W-well," Pinako said shakily, "I'm sure you are all capable of figuring out how to resolve this situation on your own. We'll leave you to it yourselves." They quickly ran into the house, but we heard them cracking up the instant before the door closed.

Al, being a suit of armor, wasn't capable of laughter, but he sure seemed to be enjoying this. "Brother…" he began in slight humor before trailing off.

Again, I somehow managed to gather myself and stand up, albeit unsteadily. "Sorry, Ed," I apologized, although I was grinning as I watched Ed get up again furiously. "I guess that I accidentally… _shrunk_… you…" I paused and snickered a bit as he twitched. "…and because I increased your density a lot, it'll probably make it really hard to move. You'll weigh exactly the same as you did in your full-sized form, despite the fact that now you're… _pocket-sized_…" Ed clenched his fists in fury. "…because you maintained your mass, even when your volume decreased. Therefore, you'll be really stiff, and your muscles will be too small and weak to move you very much."

Nadia abruptly shot her gaze at me, shocked. "Alright, now I _know_ there's something very wrong here. Who are you and what the heck have you done with Destiny?!"

I sweat-dropped. "Er… I don't know how I know that!" I cried honestly. "I just suddenly remembered that from school…"

She gave me a look of suspicion. "Since _when_ do you pay attention in school?! _Especially_ science?!"

I shrugged helplessly. "I _don't_. I dunno how I know all of that! Honest!"

Nadia gave another skeptical glance before sighing. "Alright. Well, even if she's obviously possessed and not really in her right mind, Destiny's right. This is going to be a pain, because Ed's still going to weigh the same, but he'll be a lot smaller and unable to move much…"

I frowned. "Y'know… my automail arm is a lot stronger than a normal arm… I'm sure that I could carry him. Probably won't be that much trouble for me."

They all blinked (minus Al) and looked at me. "…Hey, you're right!" Winry gasped. "That'll work!"

"HEY!" Ed shouted angrily in the same squeak as before. "I DON'T WANT THAT IDIOT TO CARRY ME! I CAN WALK MYSELF!"

I gave him a bemused look. "You do realize that the house is at least a mile away for you now… and besides that, you can hardly move…"

He froze. Then he turned around, sat down, and sulked. "…"

Seeing this, I turned to Nadia and pouted. "Awww, do we _have_ to figure out a way to fix this?! I like him _so_ much more like this! All unable to argue when we call him short or tiny… and he's so chibified…"

Nadia face-palmed and sighed. "Well, I was wrong; only the real Destiny would say something as stupid as that…" Then she glared at me. "Of _course_ we have to fix him! Don't you realize how bad it would be if we left him like this?!"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Umm…" Then I imagined it: Scar coming and him being completely helpless, the homunculi easily destroying him, Ed accidentally being stepped on…

I pouted again. "Fine, we'll figure out a way to get him back to normal… but we won't risk doing anything until tomorrow before we get on the train to Central. Because… well, I did that accidentally, and if I try to do it again and get a _single molecule off_…" I looked at him meaningfully.

Edward turned around from his sulk and glared at me. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," he squeaked in annoyance.

My lips curled again in humor upon hearing his voice. "Oi, Nadia," I said, snickering, "I just realized. He sounds kind of like Alvin and the Chipmunks."

She clamped her hand over her mouth. "…Or FЯED," Nadia added, giggling.

Then we cracked up and fell over laughing again.

Ed jumped up, peeved. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" he squeaked. "IT'S _YOUR_ FAULT I'M LIKE THIS! AND WHAT THE HECK IS AN ALVIN OR A FЯED ANYWAY?!"

We just laughed even harder.

More anger-veins appeared on his face. He took large, heavy strides, struggling to keep his balance as he stormed over to me.

"Hey, chill, pipsqueak," I said after finally recovering, standing up slowly, "it's just an inside joke."

Have you ever heard a squeaky growl? Well, that's what Ed did. He literally growled, and it sounded hilarious, just like everything else. Somehow, however, we managed to maintain our composure. "Alrighty, then!" I chirped, taking a small step closer to the chibi-Ed. "We're obviously not getting anything done just by standing here arguing." I crouched down next to him.

He took a step backwards, looking up at me defiantly. "No," Ed snapped, taking another step back.

I held out my automail hand on the ground, palm up. "_Now_, Ed. I wasn't asking."

This only served to tick him off. "_NO_!" he repeated. "You may have… done… _this_—" He gestured to himself, probably unable to bring himself to say that he was small. "—but I REFUSE to have you ruin my dignity, too!"

Ed probably didn't expect me to burst out laughing and turn to Nadia. "Nadia!" I cried. "He reminds me of Vegeta!"

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, you're _right_!" she said, giggling (I'd forced her to watch DBZ several years back).

I snickered. I was unable to do a very good imitation of anyone without drinking milk first, but nonetheless I tried to mimic him. "'You may have invaded my mind and my body—but there is one thing a Saiyan always keeps… his PRIDE!'" On _pride_, I threw up and waved my arms to signify the yellow aura exploding or whatever he did in the show. Then my eyes widened. "Hey, now that I think about it, he was a Super Saiyan when he said that, right? He had golden hair and everything!"

Nadia crossed her arms and studied Mini-Ed thoughtfully. "Yeah… the only difference is that his eyes were blue, not gold… and his hair was sticking straight up, not in a braid…"

I frowned. "Yeah… and even when Ed was at his _full_ height, Vegeta was still quite a bit taller…"

More anger veins appeared. "I'M _NOT_ SHORT!" he squeaked angrily. "AND WHO'S VEGETA, ANYWAY?!"

I waved dismissively. "It's just another inside joke." Then I reached out with my automail hand, picked him up by the back of his cloak, and began walking to the house.

He began thrashing wildly. "HEY! LEMME GO! LEMME GO! _LEMME GO_!"

I paused my walking and glared at him. "Ed," I said in a dangerously low voice, "If you don't stop squirming, then I swear I will personally drown you in a cup of milk."

Ed froze.

"That's better."

* * *

Upon entering the house, the first thing we noticed that it was completely empty and silent.

"Hey, where'd they go?" I wondered aloud, holding Ed out in front of me.

Winry walked past me and picked up a small note on the counter with her back to me. "'We left to go grocery shopping. We'll be back around midnight. Sincerely, Pinako.' …MIDNIGHT?!"

I sighed. "And, let me guess: Armstrong has a letter on the back that reads, 'I am busy chopping a year's worth of firewood.'"

Winry raised her eyebrows and flipped it over. "Hey, it does! How'd you know?"

I shrugged. "Lucky guess. Those cowards. Anyways…" I set Mini-Ed down on a counter. "What are we going to do about _this_ little guy?"

Edward lashed out again. "WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO TINY THAT I'M INVISIBLE WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS?! I'M _NOT_ LITTLE!"

I pat chibi-Ed lightly on the head with my normal hand. "Of course you aren't, Ed. _Of course_ you aren't." (My voice was dripping with sarcasm, in case you didn't realize.)

He continued to thrash, but I placed my finger on his head, preventing him from actually going anywhere. I sighed and turned away, finger still on his head. "Anyways, let's get down to business…"

They all nodded. "Well, let's go over what happened, and maybe we can figure something out," Al said.

I frowned, ignoring Ed's continued high-pitched shouts. "I'm not sure, really… all I know is that I was thinking about matter-related stuff when I tried to use alchemy, and then, _poof_! This happened." I waved my automail arm towards the still-furious Ed for emphasis.

Nadia's eyes widened. "Hey, I think I've got it!" she declared, slapping her fist on her other palm.

I sweat-dropped. "Well, that was quick."

She ignored me. "My theory is that you unwittingly focused your attention on size factors, and when you blindly lashed out in anger with alchemy, this caused you to decrease his volume and increase his density, but due to those two variables, you managed to keep Ed's mass and weight the same. So, it only stands to reason that you can reverse it once more if you focus on the opposite and try again."

I don't think it's possible for armor's eyes to shine (besides his white-red eyes), but if they could, then his definitely would be. "_Whoa_, how did you figure _that_ out?!" Al exclaimed, amazed.

She shrugged. "It's just basic laws of physics. And alchemy, too: you can't get something without first giving something of equal value in return. Mini-Ed is the same amount of matter as regular-sized Ed, so that's why. It wasn't hard to figure out that you can just blend those two scientific laws to do something like this."

"But none of us have ever been able to pull something like this off," Alphonse said, turning to me. "Somehow, you managed to do something that no one in the history of alchemy has done. And you've just barely started learning."

My jaw dropped. "You're _kidding_!" I gasped. "Seriously?! _No one_ has done this before?! But… but you're professional alchemists, right? You can increase and decrease the sizes of stuff like radios, right?! How is _this_ any different?!"

Suddenly, both Ed and Al froze and fell silent. "…That's true…" Al replied quietly, "but it's never been successfully done on another living creature before without… without killing them."

…_Alright, that was quite the conversation-stopper. And is it just me, or did it suddenly get several degrees colder in here? _I thought. "…Um. Okay, then… er…" I slowly removed my hand from Mini-Ed's head, feeling very awkward.

An uncomfortable silence hung over us for a little bit.

Winry broke it after a while. "Well… um… although I know it's risky… what're we going to do? I mean, we can't just… _leave_ him like this, can we? So we've gotta get him back to normal at some point…"

"I _know_…" I said, a dreading sigh escaping me. "But like I said before, if I got even a _single molecule off_…!" I trailed off meaningfully as I glanced at Edward.

He slowly sank to his knees, horrified. _Message received._

"This is bad," Nadia murmured, just barely loud enough to hear. "If Ed's like _this_, then everything will be messed up. If you mess up, then you'll _kill _him. Great. Now what're we supposed to do?!"

"N-no… I'll risk it…" Ed said, shakily standing up, but looking determined. "There's still something I have to do, and I can't be like… _this_… for that to happen." We all knew he was talking about getting Al's body back. The thing was, _they_ didn't know that we knew.

Sigh… so complicated.

We were all silent for a little while longer as his words hung in the air.

Then I clamped my hand over my mouth, trying unsuccessfully to suppress my giggling. But I fell to the floor laughing anyway. "OH, ED! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY WHEN YOUR VOICE IS LIKE THAT!" I gasped out.

"IT'S NOT _MY_ FAULT! _SHUT UP_!" he squeaked in fury.

* * *

After I recovered from my sadistic laughing fit, Nadia pulled me aside.

"Destiny." Her voice was barely over a whisper, but shock and frustration was quite clear. "I don't think that anyone else saw it clearly, either that or they chose to ignore it, but… you used alchemy without a circle, didn't you?!"

I swallowed. "Y-yeah… I think so."

"And not only that, it was successful in something that _no one_ has _ever_ done successfully before!"

"…What're you getting at?"

"I'm saying that you just did alchemy without a circle, and in a way that has _never been accomplished before_. Don't you see?! It's because we saw the Gate. You can do alchemy without a circle. And _on accident_."

I felt a sudden chill.

Nadia held my gaze for a little longer. "Remember… they can't know that we've seen the Gate, so we have to keep up the façade. And just be careful, Destiny… the Gate is unpredictable. We both know that. Anything could happen because you've seen it. No… because _we've_ seen it." Then she turned and left.

I stared after her for a moment. _…So… that means she can use alchemy without a circle, too… doesn't it? _I wondered.

I sighed. "Great. My head hurts," I mumbled before returning to the group.

* * *

_**~~Later that day, Destiny's POV~~**_

I gulped. My hands shook in anxiety.

They all watched me expectantly as I fret over my own doubts, staring at the Mini-Ed inside the newly-drawn transmutation circle.

"Calm down," Nadia told me reassuringly, "it'll be alright. You'll do fine. If you did it once on accident, when you actually _want_ to do it, then maybe it'll be even _easier_!"

We both knew that was a stretch, but I forced my hands to stop quaking. "R-right." I took a deep breath.

Nadia, Winry, and Al stepped back as I crouched down and clapped my hands together. I inhaled shakily again and ever-so-slowly reached towards the circle…

I jumped back about five feet. "I CAAAAAAN'T!" I wailed, tears streaming down my face. "ICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TI_CAAAAAN'T_!"

Nadia sighed in exasperation and walked over to me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "Pull—yourself—_together_!" she yelled between shakes.

Feeling dizzy, I sniffled a bit as she continued to shake me. "B-but Nadia," I whispered quietly, just barely loud enough for her to hear, "what if it doesn't work with a circle?! I mean, I did it _without_ a circle before. Maybe using a circle will screw it up!"

Nadia moaned, stopped shaking me, and dragged me to the side again. "Look, Destiny, you aren't even making any sense," she snapped quietly. "A transmutation circle used by people who can do alchemy without one merely _amplifies_ the alchemy. That means that it will _definitely_ work _with_ one."

I frowned. "Okay… you're right…" I made my way back to the circle, crouched down, and clapped my hands. I swallowed again and slowly reached to the circle again…

…And leapt at Nadia instead. "I JUST CAN'T DO IT!" I sobbed.

Ed was probably pretty PO'd. "WOULD YOU QUIT STALLING AND DO IT ALREADY?!" he squeaked furiously.

Nadia glared at me. She pulled me aside once more. "If you don't hurry up and do it, then I swear I'm not going to make that solar-powered iPod charger that you wanted."

My eyes widened. "B-but you promised, before we even _came_ to this world!"

She blew some hair out of her face. "I don't keep promises to idiots. Just do it already."

I straightened and went back to the circle with newfound determination. "Ed," I said sternly, cracking my knuckles, "if you die, I swear I'm going to friggin' kill you."

Everyone sweat-dropped.

I crouched down again, clapped my hands together, and closed my eyes. _Focus… _I thought, envisioning Ed at his full size. _Increase the volume, decrease the density, and keep the mass… _

_Make Ed big again… _

My fingers touched the outer rim of the circle.

The bright blue light flashed.

* * *

_**~~Ed's POV~~**_

_Please don't let me be dead, please don't let me be dead, please don't let me be dead… if there really is a God, then please don't let me be dead… _I prayed.

Me, praying. What a laugh.

I finally felt my limbs again. My fingers twitched.

Feeling drowsy, I cracked open my eyes.

To my shock, I saw Destiny, Nadia, Winry, and Al, all crowded around me, grinning (well, except Al… but if he could grin, he probably would be).

"Well, he's alive!" Destiny cheered. "Looks like all that worrying was for nothing!"

"Not so fast," Nadia replied. "He hasn't said anything. Let him talk; we've gotta make sure his voice isn't so high-pitched anymore."

They all fell silent and continued to stare at me expectantly.

I slowly sat up. "…Don't talk about me like I'm not here," I grumbled, relieved when my voice was normal.

Everyone visibly relaxed. "BROTHER!" Al exclaimed, yanking me into a hug. "I'M SO GLAD!"

"Can't… breathe…!" I choked out. Alphonse released me.

"Whew," Destiny said tiredly, sighing as she pulled away. "Too much worrying. I can't take this anymore… I'm going to go to bed. It's already nightfall, and I really don't feel like waiting till midnight for Pinako and Major Armstrong. See ya." She walked away. A few seconds later, she poked her head out again, looking half-asleep. "Oh, yeah… And before I forget, Nadia, can you start working on that solar-powered iPod charger…? Thanks…" Destiny yawned and walked away again.

I turned to Nadia, bewildered. "What's an iPod? And what's _solar-powered_ mean, for that matter?!"

Nadia shot a glare towards where Destiny had left that could've easily been the origins of the saying, _if looks could kill… _"Oh, nothing much. It's just something from where we come from. You don't need to know anything else."

I raised an eyebrow, suspicious, but decided to drop it. For now, anyway. "…Alright…"

Then I remembered something. "Oh, and one more thing. Tomorrow morning at first light, we're leaving for Central."

Everyone snapped to attention at this. "WHAT?!" Winry cried.

"You could've given us some more _warning_!" Nadia said, glowering.

Al made a sound like a sigh. "Well, someone has to tell Destiny that, too. It'll be unfair if we just abruptly up and leave."

Nadia crossed her arms and stepped back solemnly. "Nuh-uh, no way. I'm not doing it. At this point, she'll be in bed."

We stared at her. "Uh, yeah? So?" I asked.

Nadia sighed. "Well, if she willingly went to bed instead of someone making her, then it's serious; she rarely goes to bed on her own, so she's _really_ tired. At this point, if she's that tired, then I'm sure she'll have fallen asleep by now. And if you wake her up, well… she generally doesn't like that. Destiny is a fairly light sleeper… but…"

"But?" I prompted.

She shuddered. "Destiny can be really violent when you wake her up. She'll be half-asleep at first, so…"

I rolled my eyes. "Is that _all_?!" I smirked and rolled up my sleeves, heading to the guest room Destiny and Nadia were staying in. "_Please_. It can't be _that_ bad. If no one else is going to do it, then I _will_!" I stormed off, determined to wake her.

* * *

**A/N: Phew! It's done. '^.^ That took a while, because I was busy with schoolwork and stuff… but yeah… here it is~!**

**Me: Okay, okay! I'm done! Ya happy?! **

**Ed: *moaning as he wakes up* Say wha…? **

**Me: -_- Are you freaking kidding me… **

**Al: Brother, she made you not tiny anymore… **

**Ed: *fully awake* SERIOUSLY?! LEMME SEE! **

**Winry: Wow, that was fast. '^.^ **

**Me: *sigh* I know. I just wanted to hurry everyone to Central. **

**Winry: …I was talking about Ed waking up… **

**Me: "O_o …I knew that. **

**Hawkeye: What she probably means to say is, "I'm sorry this chapter was abrupt." **

**Me: Seriously, WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU **_**COMING**_** FROM?! *sigh* Fine, she's right. Yeah, we're finally leaving Resembool and getting on with the plot. Sorry if it seemed sudden. But I needed Destiny to learn how to do that before the story progressed, so… derp. **

**Ed: WHAT THE—?! **

**All: What? **

**Ed: *looking at new chapter on computer* You did **_**not**_** seriously do what I think you did… **

**Me: *gulp* Um… er… maybe? **

**Havoc: Didn't do what? *blows smoke from cigarette* **

**Me: *snagging cigarette, smashing it, and chucking it in the trash* Oi, no smoking in my house! *sigh* And what I did was— *stops* …Hey, I nearly gave the readers spoilers! Sorry, no spoilers for you~! :3 Fine, I'll tell you guys, but after I'm done concluding my Author's Note. 'Kay, readers! R&R, or else I'm sending an angry Ed after you! **

**Ed: Wait, what?! I didn't agree to this!**

**Me: What if I told you I knew how to do Chinese water torture, except with milk? **

**Ed: O_o GAAAAAAAAAAH! **

**Me: I'll take that as a sign of agreement. **

_**Review topics~ **_

**Does anyone have any guesses to how Ed trying to wake up Destiny went?**

**What is going to happen at Central? **

**Do you have any suggestions for what you want to see in the upcoming few chapters? **

**Ed: *still yelling* NOOOOOOO! **

**Me: *slaps* Oh, for crying out loud! I haven't even **_**done**_** the milk torture yet! You can't go insane if I haven't even done it yet! *sigh* For the sake of Ed's sanity, please R&R… **


	5. Good Morning, Or Not?

Chapter 5: Good Morning, Or Not?

**A/N: Hi, peeps! Wuzzup? :P Oh, and did ya see the new cover? I drew it myself! …It's not great, I know… but I tried, okay? Besides, it looks a lot better on Deviantart. **

**Aaaaanyways.**

**Me: Well, here you go, Alphonse. I updated, okay? So stop whining! Nadia's perfectly fine! **

**Al: *relieved sigh* **

**(*Note: I am referencing a story that I recently started, **_**Fullmetal Paparazzi**_**. In the author's note, I shoved Destiny and Nadia back into my laptop, and Al has been upset about Nadia since. Yeahz…*) **

**Me: *claps hands together* Anyways! Let's get on with this awesomeness, shall we?**

**Ed: *groan* **

**Me: What's wrong **_**now**_**? **

**Ed: Your mood swings are killing me… **

**Me: Deal with it. **

**Envy: Yeah, suck it up, Fullmetal Pipsqueak. **

**Me: O_o AAAAAAH! NOOOO DON'T KILL MEEEEE! *ducks behind Al* **

**Envy: '-_- WTF…?**

**Me: *nervous peek* Aren't you… y'know… going to kill me? **

**Envy: *snort* Obviously, you haven't realized that most of us don't give a—**

**Me: —LANGUAGE—**

**Envy: —about fighting in this world. The Gate kinda… takes it all out of ya… **

**Me: …I can only pray that I never see the Truth. **

**All: *sigh* Amen. **

* * *

_**~~Destiny's POV~~**_

Poke. "…Hey… Destiny, wake up…"

Poke, poke. "Destiny, please wake up…"

Poke, poke… SHAKE. "_Destiny_! Please! We have to leave for Central, _now_!"

My eyes shot open and I bolted upright. "WHAAAAAAT?!" I screamed.

Al pulled away, relieved. "Good, you're finally awake."

I looked at him frantically. "What's this about leaving for Central?!"

He paused. "…After you went to bed, Brother said he wanted us all to leave for Central first thing in the morning…"

I grabbed the sides of my head and cried, "_WHAAAAAAAAAT_?!" Then I gave him a panicked stare. "Why didn't anyone try to wake me up and _tell_ me?!"

Alphonse hesitated and took a small step back. "…Er… Well…"

* * *

_**~~Flashback, Al's POV~~**_

I quietly followed Brother to the guest room.

He cracked his knuckles. "Alright, let's do this." Brother opened the door and stepped inside.

I slowly peeked in past the doorframe.

"Hey, Destiny," Brother said loudly, "wake up. NOW."

Destiny moaned and rolled over in her bed. "…No… I need my fluzzles…" she mumbled.

I wasn't really sure what to think about that comment.

Brother sweat-dropped. "…Destiny, _wake up_!" He kicked the bed—with his automail leg.

The whole bed shook.

Destiny slowly sat upright, bangs covering her face.

Brother smirked. "See?" he called out to me. "It wasn't _that_ hard."

I didn't respond.

I didn't have to.

"Why, hello there; good morning…" Destiny whispered in a quiet but menacing voice. "How nice to see you, my friend…"

Brother took a step back. "E-er… Destiny? Are you okay?"

Destiny deliberately raised her head, revealing a creepy grin and evil, half-open eyes. Suddenly, you could practically _see_ the malicious, angry aura around her. "You came in here to steal my _cake_, didn't you?!"

Brother sweat-dropped again. "W-what cake?! What're you talking about? I don't even _want_ any cake!"

She maintained her creepy grin and cracked her knuckles. "That's what they _all_ say… you want my cake, you're going to have to go through _me_, Goldilocks!"

…_Goldilocks? _I repeated internally. I gave a small snicker.

He took another step back. "U-um, I don't want any trouble, I can just leave you alone now," Brother tried.

Destiny slid out of her bed. She sluggishly grabbed a nearby lamp and her evil grin widened.

Brother gulped.

Seconds later, a huge wave of various objects in the room were flying. One nearly hit me in the helmet, but I yelped and pulled myself behind the wall again and it flew past me.

"Hey, wait a second," I mused aloud as I heard various sounds from behind the wall, "I'm a suit of armor. Why am _I_ hiding?"

Just as I was about to step out from behind the wall again, Brother stepped backwards outside the doorframe before being hit directly in the forehead with a pointy edge of a textbook. "AAAAAAUGH!" he cried, gripping his head as he fell back out of the room and onto the floor of the hallway.

Destiny stood menacingly in the doorway, left arm on one side of the doorframe and automail arm pointed at Brother. "I'll get you, my pretty," she hissed, "and your little dog, too!" Then she slammed the door.

For a little while, we didn't move.

Nadia walked up to us, grinning. "Judging by your reactions, I am assuming you tried to wake her up?"

Brother slowly nodded.

She rolled her eyes. "Boys will be boys," she commented, strolling up to the door.

This made us snap to attention. "DON'T OPEN IT!" we cried in unison.

Nadia opened the door, revealing a perfectly clean room with Destiny now sliding under the blankets of her bed while closing her eyes completely again.

Brother's jaw dropped. "B-but—!"

Nadia shrugged. "I know, right? It's so weird. She does all that in her sleep, then cleans it up and goes to her bed again. It's freaky." She sighed. "Well, I'm going to sleep, too, but I'm not waking her up in the morning. I'd prefer to live." With that, she closed the door, leaving us in the hallway, stunned beyond belief.

* * *

_**~~End of Flashback, Destiny's POV~~**_

"…It's complicated," Al finally responded after a long pause.

I frowned. "O…kay…" Then I sighed. "Fine, but can you please get out? I just need to change, then I'll join you."

He bobbed his helmet up and down and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I looked around the room, scrunching up my eyebrows in confusion when I spotted my large backpack way on the other side of the room, lying next to the door. _Hey, I could've _sworn_ I'd had that next to my bed last night…_ I thought before shrugging it off.

I walked over to it, crouched down, and unzipped it. I changed into a black T-shirt and baggy navy-blue pants (do I seriously need to explain that I _really_ like baggy pants?) with my tennis shoes. I nearly stood up and left, but then thought better of it. Instead, I reached into my backpack again and pulled out a big, red sweatshirt with a hoodie, and a black Scrunchie. I slid on the sweatshirt over my shirt and fiddled with my shoulder-length light brown hair for a little bit before I managed to fit most of my hair into a short ponytail. I doubted it would last, though.

I searched through the many contents of my bag quickly before zipping it again and slinging it over my right shoulder. I hurriedly stood up and flung open the door.

"Hey, sorry I took so…" The words died in my throat.

A (shirtless) Major Armstrong stood in front of the door, Al slung helplessly over his left shoulder. He sparkled. "Destiny~!" he boomed. "Let us hurry to Central~!"

I went pale. "What the…?!" Then I remembered the note: _'We'll be back around midnight'…_

_Oh, no… _

The Major didn't give me any time to react. I cried out as he snagged me by the waist and held me under his bare arm. "Do not fear~!" he declared as he broke out in a run, "this method of transporting others has been passed down the Armstrong family line for GENERATIONS!"

I screamed.

Armstrong dashed past a stunned Winry, Pinako, and Den.

"SORRY, GUYS! GOTTA GO NOW! _BYEEEE_!" I yelled.

The bewildered trio merely blinked as we ran out the door.

A minute or so of bumpy running later, we suddenly stopped. I cracked open my eyes that had sealed themselves shut along the way.

Ed and Nadia stood at the train stations, gaping at us wordlessly.

Armstrong gently set us down around ten feet in front of them.

After a little while, Ed asked Al cautiously, not taking his eyes off me, "Is she… _awake_?"

Al slowly moved in a way that vaguely resembled a nod. "Yeah…"

Frustrated and confused, I cried, "Does it _look_ like I'm sleeping?!"

Ed's jaw dropped. Al walked up next to his brother as Ed whispered, "She seriously doesn't remember _any_ of it?!"

"Remember _what_?!" I demanded.

Ed began whistling innocently. "Oh, nothing," he replied, strolling away, Al following closely behind him.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU TWO!" I screamed, shaking my fist.

Nadia inexplicably appeared next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, preventing me from pursuing them. "Calm down, Destiny," she said coolly, shaking her head, "they're buying us train tickets."

"Say _wha_…?" I blinked. "Oh, yeah. Right."

Nadia sighed and released me. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

I grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

How it was possible that we'd forgotten Armstrong's presence was _way_ beyond me, but somehow, we had. The Major abruptly picked us up from behind and squished us together in a suffocating hug. Touched tears streamed down his face. "Such a display of _humility_~!" he exclaimed, sparkling as was the norm with him. "Destiny, you needn't fear—for I will _inspire_ you to _persevere_ in the light of _my image_~!"

We flailed weakly against him, but that was all we could do, because his bone-crushing hug had just about squashed our lungs, so we couldn't even scream.

I looked up at the ironically peaceful sky mournfully. _Oh, Lord Almighty,_ I prayed internally, _strike me down right here and now and end my misery…_

No such luck. Major Armstrong continued to squeeze the life out of us and rave on and on, with no miraculous lightning bolt to end it. It took a whole three minutes and 27 seconds (yes, I counted) for the Elric Brothers to finally reappear, dangling the tickets in one hand in front of his face.

_Finally!_ I screamed internally.

Thinking fast, I suddenly cried out, pointing in a random direction, "Hey, look! There's a flying squirrel!"

Somehow, everyone, and yes, I mean _everyone_, including the Elrics and Nadia, all fell for it and looked in that direction immediately. I seized that opportunity and used the moment of surprise to use all my energy and shove roughly away from Armstrong's grip and dashed as fast as I possibly could behind the elder Elric, gripping the edge of his cloak. I nervously peeked over his shoulder.

Ed glanced behind his back to me, eyebrows raised and seeming amused. "That bad, huh?"

I squeezed his cloak even tighter in my hand, shivering. "If you even _think_ about abandoning me with him again, then I swear I will shrink you again and leave you in his shirt pocket."

He gulped. "Alright, point taken."

I shifted my hand and snagged his right hand through his cloak and yanked him around. I snatched three of the tickets and flung them as hard as I could into the direction of Alphonse. "HERE, AL! WE'LL GO ON AHEAD, MEET YOU ON THE TRAIN! _BYEEEEEE_!" I screamed, dragging Ed away by his arm.

"H-hey! Wait!" Al tried to object, snagging the tickets in mid-air, but we were already long gone, wanting to put as much distance between us as possible.

* * *

We collapsed into a bench in our room of the train, panting. I slammed down my heavy backpack next to me as I slumped down.

"We… we got away…" I gasped out, relieved.

"Yeah…" Ed agreed. "We probably got… a good… two or three minutes… before… they… get here…"

We continued wheezing in relative silence for a little while longer. Then Ed finally commented, "That was a very… _me_-like move you pulled back there."

I snorted. "You mean, leaving your poor, defenseless younger brother and Nadia to perish while we hi-tailed it out of there?"

He scowled. "You don't have to be so blunt about it."

I shrugged and smirked as I gave him a little info. "To Nadia, Al is like a knight in shining armor… _literally_. So, personally, I think I did her a favor, leaving her in danger's path."

Ed's eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?!"

"What?" I asked, confused.

Bewildered, he said, "She… Nadia likes my _brother_?!"

I clamped my hand over my mouth to suppress my laughter, which failed miserably because I cracked up anyway. "You seriously haven't noticed?!"

Ed looked peeved. "Hey, I'm no psychic! How was _I _supposed to know?!"

I continued to smirk. "You could try being a little more observant. It's pretty friggin' obvious that Nadia has a thing for Al. If you actually paid attention, you might notice a thing or two… for once."

His scowl deepened. "HEY!"

I laughed. "Chill, Ed. I'm just teasing." Then I grinned. "Maybe if you weren't so easily angered, you wouldn't be teased so much."

Ed crossed his arms and leaned back into the bench again with an annoyed huff. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

I giggled. Then a thought occurred to me. "Oh, hey, Ed? What's it like at Central? I've never been there…"

He frowned. "You've never been to Central, yet you wound up in a small town like Resembool? How does _that_ work?!"

…_Oh, crap. Think, Destiny, think! _Then I came up with an idea. _Well, time to put my one semester of speech and drama to work! _"Well, _excuse me_! I was being chased by a freaking _bear_! I was just minding my own business, walking around and all, when I'm suddenly assaulted by a friggin' _bear_! I'm sorry that I didn't happen to run through Central in my panic!"

Ed threw his hands into the air defensively. "Okay, okay! I get it! Geez!" Then he looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, it's a really big place… the first time I went, I was amazed at the size and how many people live there. Most of the people are friendly, but there are some who aren't so good… like the freaking Colonel," he growled.

I snickered into my sleeve, but Ed didn't notice.

He continued. "The technology is just about the best in the country. There's plenty of cafés and shops, and it's a fairly crowded place the majority of the time, especially around Central HQ."

"Central HQ?" I inquired. "Isn't that where we're going? What's it like?"

Ed nodded. "It's the main headquarters for the military. The majority of the high-ranking officers work there…" He trailed off with a grimace.

"You're thinking about the Colonel?" I guessed. His responding groan confirmed it. "…Why do you hate this guy so much, anyway?"

Ed scowled again. "His ego is bigger than _he_ is!" he ranted in frustration. "On top of that, several years ago, he lied to me about being able to take the exam to become a state alchemist, then used me! HE MAKES ME SO MAD!" Edward stood up angrily at the last part.

"Whoa, hey, don't bust a lung, Ed; I was just asking!" I cried, fearful of him destroying something. He sat down again, but he still looked peeved. I racked my brain frantically for a new topic of conversation, but came up with squat. Instead, I ended up musing about what he said. _If Mustang lied to Ed about always being able to take the exam… then used him… that would mean this is the original anime, not the manga-slash-Brotherhood!_ I concluded, feeling proud of my new discovery. _Wait… actually, I don't remember Brotherhood or the manga so well… maybe Mustang _did_ use Ed, just for something _other_ than saving the General from hijackers? Unngh… _After all that thinking to avoid further prying about Mustang, I ended up asking anyway, "Um… you said that Colonel Mustang 'used you'… What'd you mean? Like, what'd he _do_?"

Ed gritted his teeth and clenched his fists on his knees. "He made me stop a bunch of hijackers on a train from taking the General and putting him for ransom of their leader," he spat. If looks could kill… well, I highly doubted there would be much left of the Flame Alchemist.

I nodded to myself proudly. _That proves it!_ I thought happily. _This _is_ the first series! I was right!_ I was going to have to brag to Nadia about learning something before she did later.

Wait…

"Oh, crap!" I gasped suddenly, jumping out of my seat in a flash, snagging my backpack and using one strap over my automail shoulder.

Ed looked surprised and confused at my abrupt outburst. "What?"

I gave him a quick glance of fear. "They'll be back any second now!" I cried. "Nadia's going to freaking _murder me_! I gotta get out of here!"

"W-wait—!" Ed began to shout, standing up quickly at the same time I was attempting to rush past him. I stumbled over his feet, and he consequently stumbled over mine.

"AAAAAAUGH!" we cried in unison before falling to the ground, hard.

"Owwww…" I mumbled as I tried to sit up, the back of my head throbbing painfully, only to realize that there was a weight on top of me, preventing me from moving. I cracked open my eyes.

"Nnnngh…" Ed moaned as he hoisted himself to his hands and knees, cracking open his eyes as well. He froze.

Edward was on top of me, a hand by either side of my head, knees by both sides of my waist, braid draped over his shoulder and mere inches away from my face. His golden eyes were wide with shock.

Ed's face went as red as his cloak when this awkward position finally sank in, and judging by how hard my heart was pounding and how hot my face felt, I'm sure I was blushing, too. I was too deep in shock to do anything other than just stare into his eyes and let him stare back, equally stunned. I'm sure he was waiting for a reaction—hit him, scream, freak out, something along those lines—but I couldn't even think straight, much less work up enough conscious thought to move.

I think we probably would've stayed like that for hours if the door hadn't chosen then to open, revealing a furious Nadia. "DESTINY—!" she began to roar before taking note of our awkward position. Her expression transformed from fuming to bewildered. "…Just how far did you _go_ in such a short time?" Nadia finally whispered numbly after a long silence.

"I-IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Ed and I screamed frantically.

"What's—" Al abruptly froze upon running up next to Nadia. He stared in silent horror for a little while (yes, I read the expression of a suit of armor. Problem?) before exclaiming, "_Brother_! How _could_ you?! She's only _twelve_!"

"IT'S _NOT_ WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" we repeated, panicked.

Major Armstrong appeared next to Al, not sparkling for once. For the first time ever, the great Alex Louis Armstrong was speechless.

This historical moment lasted for three seconds.

"EDWARD ELRIC!" he boomed, flexing his muscles and sparkling. "HOW _DARE_ YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OFTHIS INNOCENT YOUNG LADY!" The Major flexed in the other direction. "YOU NEED THE IMAGE OF A _TRUE_ MAN TO _INSPIRE_ YOU~!"

Clearly frustrated and embarrassed, Ed cried, "I TOLD YOU, _IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE_!" Realizing that I hadn't chimed in this time, he looked down at me nervously. "Uh… Destiny?"

I didn't react immediately. My ADHD had kicked in, and my thoughts were now going in multiple directions at once. Part of my mind was relieved that Nadia had forgotten her anger at me and directed her thoughts elsewhere. Another part of me felt guilty that Ed, although innocent, was her new target of focus. Then other parts were thinking about impossible armor facial expressions and wondering how the random pink sparkles existed. Still other parts were yelling at the back of my mind that I was hungry and hadn't eaten breakfast, and I seriously felt like having cake at the moment.

But, by far, the most prominent thought was, _Edward Elric is freaking ON TOP OF ME! _

All these conflicting thoughts and emotions were too much for my already-fragile mind to take.

My sanity completely shattered.

* * *

_**~~Ed's POV~~**_

Panicked when Destiny didn't immediately respond, I repeated, "Destiny! Hello? Are you okay?"

Destiny's expression remained blank. She didn't even blink.

"Uh… Destiny…?"

Nadia gave me a frightening death-glare, and I swear, I saw an evil aura exactly like Teacher's surrounding her. "You idiot," she hissed in a low voice. "Get off of her. _Now_."

With a start, I realized that I still had Destiny pinned underneath me. "G-_GAH_!" I cried, leaping back and releasing her.

Destiny remained motionless and stared at the ceiling with an empty expression.

"Out of the way," Nadia ordered, pushing me aside. She crouched down, grabbed Destiny by the left arm, and yanked it. "Up."

Destiny neither fought it nor complied, and Nadia forcefully pulled her to a standing position. She waved a hand in front of her face. "Helloooooo? Destinyyyyy? Anyone in theeeeeere?" She frowned when Destiny still didn't respond. "Well, congratulations, Ed," she commented, squinting at Destiny's face, "you've made our resident spaz go into shock."

"I-IT'S NOT MY FAULT, I SWEAR!" I insisted defensively.

"_Denial_~" she sang, wagging her finger in my direction. Nadia grabbed Destiny's arm again and pulled her gently into motion. She obediently began to walk behind her, still in a trance. Nadia looked up at Al, looking uncomfortable all of the sudden. "H-hey, Al," she said awkwardly, fumbling over her words, "I, uh… we need to, er… um… we need to go, you know, practice… you know… alchemy… and, I, uh… and… er…"

"You need to figure out how to fix Destiny, right?" Al guessed. Nadia gave a quick, jerky nod. "We're far enough out where there are only a few people other than us on the train… if you go back a car or two, it should be empty. You can figure out what to do with her and practice alchemy for a while. The train ride should be over in about four hours."

Her head bounced up and down frantically again. "Th-thank you! Bye!" Nadia hurriedly ran off, dragging Destiny behind her. Nadia's face was turning pink.

I frowned slightly and recalled what Destiny had said earlier. _Is…is this what she was talking about?_

I shifted my gaze to Alphonse, who was still staring after Nadia. _And, more importantly… does the same thing apply to guys, too? _

Deciding to test out that theory, I slid up next to Al, a mischievous smirk spreading across my face. "So, Al," I began casually, "do you have a thing for Nadia?"

Alphonse freaked. "WH-_WHAT_?!" he cried, voice shrill with embarrassment and anxiety. He waved his hands frantically. "Why would you even—_BROTHER_! You tried to take advantage of Destiny!"

My smirk vanished instantly. "NO, I DIDN'T!" I cried, latching onto his arm. "Please, Al! You've gotta believe me!" I begged. "It was an accident, I swear!"

"Riiiiiight." Al didn't sound convinced in the slightest.

"But, _Aaaaaal_! Pleeeeaaaase!"

"I don't believe you, Brother."

"_Aaaaaaaal_!"

This went on for over an hour.

* * *

_**~~Nadia's POV~~**_

I dashed away frantically, dragging Destiny behind me, hoping that they hadn't seen my face turn beet red. _GAAAAAAH! Why did I get all flustered all of the sudden?! How am I supposed to talk to him if I can't even say more than a few words before freaking out?! _

Sighing, I made my way through the passenger car. _Whoa. There's, like, no one here, aside from that creepy guy in the top hat reading the newspaper… and that blonde chick with the crazy hairdo… Al wasn't kidding. I guess that people don't come all the way out to Resembool often… _

I made my way to the back of the passenger car we were in and slowly opened the door. Thankfully, we weren't moving yet, so I managed to get us across the small gap between the two cars without much trouble (except for when Destiny nearly fell off the train and hit her head, but oh well). I closed the door to the next passenger and looked over the car—it was completely empty, aside from the benches and us. I nodded to myself, satisfied, and released Destiny's arm as I turned around to face her. "Alright, Destiny," I said, trying to ignore how creepy she looked with her just staring blankly at me, "let's see if I can wake you up…"

* * *

_**~~Destiny's POV~~**_

Something was disturbing the blackness. I tried to ignore it, but it just seemed to grow more insistent until I couldn't ignore it anymore. I groaned and slowly cracked open my eyes.

Nadia stared back at me, relieved. "Good, I was starting to think you'd never come to."

I blinked. "…What happened? The last thing I remember is Ed… um…" I paused, feeling my face heat up and skipped over that part. "…and then everything going black. Did I… pass out?"

She scrunched her forehead disbelievingly. "You mean, you don't remember—" Then she seemed to catch herself. "I-I mean, yeah! You passed out, haha."

I frowned. _She's hiding something… _I thought suspiciously before just deciding to drop it. "Okay, so, how long have I been out?"

Nadia cocked her head thoughtfully. "Um… I think it's been… maybe an hour?"

I nearly choked on my own spit. "WH-_WHAAAAAAAA_?!"

She nodded. "Yep. It's kind of been a pain trying to wake you up. Anyways, I brought you to a passenger car near the back of the train, because… there's some stuff we need to talk about."

A memory resurfaced suddenly and I jolted upright in my bench_—When did I sit down?_—and cried, "Oh, yeah, that's right! Nadia, I discovered which series we're in!"

Her eyebrows shot up. "You figured it out, too?" she questioned, surprised.

Disappointed, I slumped back in my seat. "Aw, man… I thought that I figured out that it's the original anime before you did…"

Nadia gave me a weird look. "No, it's not," she said, frowning slightly, "it's Brotherhood."

I snapped my head in her direction. "Nuh-_uh_! Ed said that Roy tricked him into stopping the train full of hijackers! That means it's the first anime!"

She shook her head. "No, it's not; earlier this morning at breakfast—you missed it sleeping in—Al took out his blue notebook for food he wants to eat when he gets his body back and wrote in it. He only has it in Brotherhood!"

I gave her a shocked look. "B-but… that doesn't make any sense!" I cried. "If it's got the hijacked train _and_ Al's notebook, then what series _is_ it?!"

Nadia got her 'thoughtful face' again. "Maybe… maybe it's not either, at least not completely," she mused after a moment.

I cocked my head. "Whaddya mean?"

"Like… maybe, just maybe, it's kind of a combination? Like, portions of both, but not entirely either one."

I frowned, intrigued. "…If that's true, then what series will it follow? As in, the main bad guy, the explanation for the homunculi, so on and so forth."

She shrugged helplessly. "Only time will tell," she responded with a sigh. I could tell she didn't like not knowing.

I was about to say something else, but then she abruptly straightened. "OH, YEAH!" she exclaimed, focusing on me sternly. "Two things. One: you need to practice your alchemy. And, two: we need to talk about…"

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaand, cliffie! XD**

**ROFL. I love screwing with your minds with these cliffies… **

**Ed: "-_- That sounds… so… **

**Me: *mischievous smirk* What? You want some of this? **

**Ed: *epic blush* WHA—WTF?! *anime fall* **

**Me: /;3 Don't worry, Edward, I'll do whatever ya like… *seductive smile* **

**Al: O_o Wait, wha…? **

**Ed: *face still red* W-WTF?! Isn't this supposed to be an Ed/OC fic, not an Ed/Author?! Then why are you flirting with me?!**

**Me: :P Yep. But I'm the author, so I can do whatever the heck I want! Besides, no one ever said there couldn't be a little side relationships… *smirk* **

**Envy: YOU'RE EVIL!**

**Me: You're one to talk. Ahem, anyways… **

**I'd originally planned to end a little further into the chapter, but that didn't work, because**

**a) Writer's block kicked in **

**b) I've already gone far over 4000 words**

**c) My head hurts **

**d) People are yelling at me to update my other stuff… TT_TT **

**and **

**e) I just freaking felt like it, problem? **

**Ed: Well, **_**someone's**_** in a bad mood. **

**Me: No, frick, Sherlock. **

_**Review topics~ **_

**Did your prediction come true? (Probably not XD) **

**Did Nadia actually end up making the solar-powered iPod charger? **

**What was Nadia about to talk to Destiny about, and why does she want her to practice alchemy? **

**Again, any suggestions for what you want to see? (Like, maybe some help for an Al/Nadia fluff moment…? I'm drawing a blank…) **

**Me: Review and recommend, or else the epic palm tree of epicness will feed you to Gluttony :P **

**Envy: …And I would do this, why? AND I'M NOT A PALM TREE! **

**Me: You would do it because I'm the author, and because if you don't, then I'm going to introduce you to deforestation in Hawaii :3 **


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